The nothing factory

out 26 JANUARY / CERT Tbc / 179 MINS director Pedro Pinho CAST José Smith Vargas, Carla galvão, njamy Sebastião

a THREE-HOUR account of a sit-in at an elevator factory isn’t going to be for everyone. But Pedro Pinho packs this blend of agit-prop realism and avantgarde satire with plenty of humaninterest angles and the odd surprise. the largely amateur cast handles the talk of recession, mechanisation and collective control with a naturalism that takes the edge off the socioeconomic theorising sparked by a mysterious man (played by italian documentarist Danièle incalcaterra), who coerces the workers into taking over the plant when the bosses bail. More involving is a subplot centred on a singer-machinist (Vargas), who features in the splendidly unexpected climactic song-and-dance routine. dp