Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

bandw If you have worked in a hierarchical work environment, you will almost certainly identify with the themes covered; if you haven't, you will be treated to an intimate examination of the complexities of the work environment. The specific situation examined revolves around people working in a small French manufacturing plant, but the themes treated are universally applicable to any workplace. The three basic conflicts are between management and labor (that age-old battle in any capitalist society), between generations, and between stability and adapting to a changing world.Franck is the son of man who has worked in the factory for some thirty years. As the movie starts Franck is returning from being in business school in Paris and he is given a position in the personnel department of his father's factory. Franck rises in the ranks and his father is proud of his success. But serious conflicts arise between Franck and his management and between Franck and his father.I have the feeling that the movie is meant to condemn the way the workers are treated, but I think it details in an almost documentary fashion the inner workings that obtain in almost any workplace. Management is out to worry about the bottom line and the survival of the company and the workers are trying to do their jobs and take home a paycheck. Of course this sets up an inevitable conflict-- both management and labor want as big a share of the pie as they can get, but in that contest management usually has the upper hand. But the success of the company depends on the workers doing their jobs, so attention must be paid to their working conditions.Franck's father's job is running a machine to stamp out metal parts and he is little more than a machine himself; he points out that he can make up to 700 identical parts an hour. On the surface this job looks horribly tedious, but the father seems quite content to run his machine, do his job, and go home. Of course such a job is ripe for automation, and Franck's father is slated for a layoff. I found the beauty of the movie to be in what appeared to me to be an evenhanded and realistic presentation of both sides of the management vs. labor dispute. I could not bring myself to view the company boss as an evil ogre, nor could I pity Franck's father. It was hard for me to sympathize with Franck. In a brutal and heartrending scene between him and his father he expressed his shame for his father and his father's position, a shame that he claimed to have been passed down to him. I felt that Franck should have been proud of his father, a man who had provided him with a home environment to foster his success. And I did not see Franck's father as an unhappy man.This movie is relevant to current (2012) politics in the United States where charges of class warfare abound. The movie explores what I think are inevitable themes that occur in a capitalist society. The themes touched on are so common and deeply significant that it is puzzling why they are so rarely treated in film. What is offered instead is a diet of comic book super heroes, vampires, murder mysteries, fantasies, and so forth.

Emil Bakkum The film Resources Humaines is in essence a low-budget study on labor value. Director Cantet uses the scheme of class struggle for the portrayal of the relations between the blue- and white-collar workers in a production plant. The mutual feelings of stress are aggravated and perhaps even somewhat distorted by the father-son relation, that is woven into the story. In summary, the college graduate rationalizes the production process, and in passing makes his fathers job redundant. The factual narration itself is so simple, that there is plenty of room to delve into the many psychological facets. This allows for detailed character studies, and Cantet portrays them in sharp contrasting colors. The Bolshevist shop steward of the trade union (CGT) is against any alterations. The managing director is cunning in an unpleasant way. The workers are impassive as a result of their monotonous jobs. The son has the stupid arrogance of the new-born believer in dogmas. As a result the viewer has trouble in identifying with any of the characters. Obviously Cantet tries to sympathize with the blue-collars, but his preference is not supported by the events itself. The main weakness of the film is, that it appears half a century too late. In our postindustrial society the situation has been resolved, and is no longer a subject of debate. Today everybody knows, that a job will not last for life. Employees are obliged to engage in lifelong learning. We also appreciate, that work at the assembly line is so dull, that it is inhumane and should be automated as much as possible. The days of the laborers smashing the machines ended two centuries ago. So a sensible person can only welcome the intention of the managing director to hand over the repetitive tasks to robots. And the viewer looks at disbelief at the ensuing occupation of the plant by the workers, who reject any discharges. This behavior, that fitted in the fifties of the previous century (see for instance the nice film Made in Dagenham), is in our times a relic of the past. Resources Humaines suggests that political agitation and class struggle are more important than efficient production. The normal, modern and sensible act under these circumstances is of course starting negotiations between the management and the trade union in order to arrange decent social plans for the redundant personnel. We are also surprised by the promotion of the working week of 35 hours. Evidently Europeans have always valued their leisure time, but in recent years the emphasis has shifted to leave for duties with regard to caring (children, elderly) or for study. Or on part-time and flexible contracts. In conclusion, the film Resources Humaines is debating the wrong issues. If you appreciate films about labor, you may consider seeing my other reviews.

silverauk This movie is very sober but realistic. The director Laurent Cantet uses non-professional actors in their natural environment which gives the movie a certain power less dramatic than "Norma Rae" but stronger in intensity. The scene where the father (Jean-Claude Vallod) shows to his son Franck (Jalil Lespert) the very simple work he is doing every day for years on is moving. There is also the conflict of the young manager Franck with the director (Lucien Longueville) which is characteristic for such social problems. The family-life is well depicted.

harry-76 "Ressources humaines" is a consideration of the tensions created between management and labor, as seen through the eyes of a business grad student serving as a temporary management trainee during his school break. A proposed 35-hour work week is used as a dramatic charge for investigating both sides of white/blue collar concerns in a factory setting. After a strike is called by the workers, who feel betrayed by management, while management feels betrayed by its trainee who publicly discloses a "secret memo" on the pending firing of several workers, the film ends before a resolution is reached.Actually, it's not necessary to reveal the resolution, for that's not what the film appears to be about. While both sides feel their respective issues deeply, and both have seemingly legitimate arguments, at least to themselves, we witness what may actually be an absurdist comedy:Is the creation of a world of limitation a state of awareness that may in itself be spurious? Is the belief in lack a subconsious denial of human potential? Is the reacting to injustice an indvertent bonding of the actor to his own nemisis? Indeed, are not management and labor in effect merely different sides of the same coin? From a distant perspective, after "Ressources humaines" has unfolded and its passion and emotion subsided, we observe a dented sponge returning to its original shape. Nothing has really progressed, only temporarily allowed its profile to give. Yes, there is nothing to do in Laurent Cantet's world but to silently laugh at his sharp depiction of errors. Jalil Lespert as the student, Frank, and Jean-Claude as Le pere give mesmerizing performances.