A Don Quixote of our time as the French workforce confront German ownership in a last ditch attempt to save their jobs and their town from an economic meltdown.
In spite of company promises, government subsidies and workers taking a reduction in pay, Perrin Industries decide to close the factory. Determined to fight the decision, led by divorcee Laurent Amédéo (Vincent Lindon – Titane, La haine), 1100 workers strike and occupy the premises. What follows is a claustrophobic confrontation of management versus workers, workers versus workers with voices from supportive and not so supportive politicians and journalists in an impasse that leads to a shocking conclusion.
Writer/director Stéphane Brizé (The Measure of a Man, Madamoiselle Chambon), working with an almost exclusively non-professional cast, allows the tense, raw narrative to slowly unfold as internal factionalism and market forces determine the outcome.
Rating: 70%
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