Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

ken-roberts-1 I was fascinated by this documentary and wanted to see more. Then the long, never-ending series of animal murders began. I am not an animal activist but I should be, because nothing bothers me more than to see a human being kill an animal. Those scenes made Hannibal Lector look like an alter boy.The horror of it - I watched for 3 minutes or so and had to turn it off. Each animal saw and smelled all the death around him as he was dragged around in the mud, waiting his turn. The twitching bodies of those still not quite dead . . . too much. I realize that those people did it to feed and support themselves - but I will never forget those scenes. Maybe that was the point.

davesteele-milwaukee I recently saw this film at the 2006 Milwaukee International Film Festival. It's a moving testament to the strength and resiliency of human beings, who manage to find a sense of purpose, and even pride, in the sheer act of survival under the most difficult circumstances."Workingman's Death" is an eye-opening experience that takes the viewer into some of the worst working conditions in the world: an illegal coal mine in Ukraine, a slaughterhouse in Nigeria, a sulfur mine in Indonesia, and a shipbreaking yard in Pakistan. The film starkly portrays these harsh settings and the (mostly) men who toil within them. There is no "expert" testimony, no voiceovers, no narrator, only the men themselves who do the work. The camera follows them as they carry out their tasks, take breaks and go home after a hard day. The only commentary is from the workers themselves, talking about their jobs.The film is an intimate portrait of how these workers keep their spirits intact through all of this back breaking labor. The Ukrainian coal miners see themselves as heroes, carrying on the legacy of the once-great Soviet coal machine. In Indonesia, a rabble-rouser comes to the sulfur mine for work, and, amidst his dangerous and physically grueling work, shoots the breeze with his coworkers about prostitutes and bar brawls. A worker in the Nigerian slaughterhouse says that his job cleaning the severed heads of cows makes him special, because he has skills that other workers don't have. The workers at the shipbreaking yard in Pakistan consider themselves part of a brotherhood; they look out for the fellow workers and pull together to help a friend in trouble.In "Workingman's Death," we see the will of people to carry on. The workers in this film are oppressed people, but they refuse to think of themselves as slaves. They find pride, brotherhood and even humor in their work, no matter how dire the circumstances. The cinematography is beautiful, the music haunting. Never before has hard work been more artfully portrayed.The film features graphic footage of animal slaughter, and the segment on the Nigerian slaughterhouse will be especially disturbing to many people. Unfortunately, it's the graphic nature of this film that will probably prevent from getting wide release, at least in the US. This is a shame, because this is a film that can remind us all of our common humanity.

revolutioner "Workingman's Death" is a difficult movie to review. The first segment about Ukranians mining coal from small illegal mines in one of the coldest, most remote spots on the planet, is fascinating. We follow these hard workers on their journey to and from the mines. We visit the home of a miner and meet his wife and the family (a baby goat) and the entire segment was delightful. Next, we travel to Indonesia and see some incredible footage of men extracting sulfur from the mountains and this too, is something that you have probably never seen before. There are some very funny moments as well and this story was also a winner.What I found much less compelling were the final two stories about Pakistanis taking apart giant ships no longer being used and an obsolete power plant in China that has been turned into a park. Unique...yes. Interesting...not really.The ugliness came in the form of a segment about workers in Nigeria. Honestly, if I knew about this beforehand, there is zero chance that I would have attended this screening. It begins with animal horns being tossed onto a large pile and then we see several large animals being led to an area. At this point, my sensors were activated. I was saying to myself...please God--let this be some sort of African rodeo...but when I heard voices shouting and the subtitles read INNARDS..SKIN...INNARDS!, I bolted out of the theater at record speed. The bloodbath apparently continued for about 25 minutes. Since I didn't witness this horror show, here is the description in the festival program guide: "A purer form of hell is found in a Nigerian slaughter yard where the bleating animals (graphically portrayed) seem more human than the men and women killing, portioning, roasting, selling—and praying." All-righty then! Now at least you know that this isn't going to be the "feel good hit of the summer"...In the Q and A following the film, director Michael Glawogger was quite charming in talking about his work. Someone asked if it will be seen on television. Glawogger was hopeful, saying that he expected that it would eventually make it to the small screen. I can tell you with absolute certainty, that this will NEVER be seen on American television in any way shape or form, unless the Nigerian segment is deleted.A DVD will probably be released in the future, and until then, "Workingman's Death" will enjoy a limited release in the U.S.

poison1977 I haven't been so shocked by a movie in a year. This film represents the extreme experiences of workers in five places in the world. It's extraordinarily well shot and it's provoking and profound. Unlike Michael Moore, Glawogger allows the viewers to think, to feel and to react... I strongly recommend this film. There's nothing funny about this. The filmmakers share the experiences with the characters they depict. The claustrophobia of an illegal mine in Ukraine, the long exhausting walks of the sulfur workers in Indonesia, the bloodbath of the butchers in Nigeria, the danger of the ships cemetery in Pakistan and the last days of an iron factory in China. It depicts the state of the workingman in the world nowadays. 10 out of 10.