Final Rating: 3/5
The new Serbian film Working Class Goes To Hell, directed by Mladen Djordjevic, is billed as a satirical horror film. It is about the ends that class consciousness can go to and to ensure our capitalist overlords stop taking advantage of the common man. The film takes place in a small town in Serbia, where a few years earlier a factory fire killed nine people. The factory owner has denied any responsibility and instead blames the workers. A trial has been going on for four years, and has already been deemed a mistrial once with fears of it happening again. Local politicians seem to be in cahoots with the factory owner as they wish to just settle out of court with the victims’ families and the workers who refuse to return to work until justice is served. In the meantime a new hotel is being built to help make the town more attractive to tourists, but in reality it is being built so the rich and powerful men in the community can have a place to throw extravagant parties and fill the rooms with prostitutes. Righteous anger only gets a person so far before it needs to be channeled into something, otherwise it might destroy their whole lives.
Ceca (Tamara Krcunovic) leads a support group for people who worked at the factory and have been protesting the owner as he tries to avoid consequences for his unsafe working conditions. The group gather regularly but are burnt out with living with their anger and sadness all the time in a town where most people are either unemployed or don’t make enough money to support themselves. Danica (Lidija Kordic) often breaks into the burnt up and empty factory to leave offerings of food, cigarettes and beer to her deceased co-workers. Rade (Ivan Djordjevic) buys up a bunch of chinchillas to hopefully sell them to rich people to make fur out of them and to be respected by wife. Everyone is struggling to make ends meet and to not fall into a pit of despair.
One night when the group is having dinner at Ceca’s house, a new face stops by. Miya (Leon Lucev) was originally from the town, but left to travel and eventually ended up in prison for a lengthy stint. There he became a part of a “support group” (and definitely not a cult as he corrects people many times) where he learned how to harness special powers. It starts out with molybdomancy, the act of melting lead then pouring it into cold water and reading the new shape it has turned into. The group believes his explanations and eventually they upgrade to Miya reading tarot cards, then seances, then full on ceremonies where they pour out salt circles into the shape of pentagrams.
At first the group just wanted signs from their loved ones, but that wasn’t enough. They start to ask for more specific things like their success and the downfall of the corrupt elites. As fate would have it they start to act on their wishes, storming the newly built hotel where the mayor and his cronies are having hedonistic parties where things turn nasty. As the film goes on and the group delves deeper into the occult you wonder if they are being possessed into carrying out these brutal wishes or if their anger had just reached a boiling point and it was inevitable that they would protest like it was a French Revolution.
The film is anchored by Tamara Krcunovic, who has a deep well of sadness as Ceca. She lost her husband in the fire and as she embarks on a romantic relationship with Miya, you see her slowly starting to heal and move on with her life. The film’s political beliefs are on full display and there is no confusion over the messaging. Local news covers the groups protests and calls the elites corrupt, but it doesn’t change anything. Much like how we are in the midst of a new labour movement as post COVID workers are finally realizing that when everyone is being downsized and paid less, companies are posting record quarter after record quarter enriching those who do not do the actual work.
The film unfortunately falters at times with a confusing narrative over what the group is asking for through these ceremonies and if they come true or not. The film points to a supernatural element several times but it doesn’t ever go far enough with the suggestion. Either the film needed to commit to the idea of full on spirits being shown in the film or more of a suggestion of what eventually powers the group to go through with their vengeance. I’m unsure if it was lost in translation, but it felt like the film oscillated between trying to take itself very seriously as a political allegory and trying to be comedic as the comedy parts didn’t work as well and felt out of place. Some of the characters were hard to track their narratives, which meant caring for them became difficult. It would make an interesting double feature with Infinity Pool, another film that takes the idea of violently taking down the rich in increasingly more bizarre ways.
Working Class Goes To Hell was seen during the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Thank you to Route 504 for the screener.
