Search - Human Resources on DVD

Raw, Strong, Personal, Socioeconomic Cinematic Experience...

Kim Anehall | Chicago, IL USA | 11/24/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The film Human Resources illustrates the dilemma of when class differences clash as a young man from a lower class tries to rise to a higher class. The young man, Franck (Jalil Lespert), returns to his hometown to begin an internship for human resources at a local factory. Franck's father, a machinist, who is close to retirement, works for the same company that he is doing his internship for. Franck's childhood friends also work for the same company, and now Franck has to assume the role as a leader over the people of his past. The status change that Franck has acquired through higher academic achievement does not come with as smooth of a transition, as he expected, as it becomes a rough journey into personal socioeconomic choices.



Franck's intentions are honorable as he attempts to balance the internship at a managerial position in the human resource department with his parents and friends' social standing. But as expected a life of profiteering collides with the socially learned values that Franck has acquired from a young age as he sees the injustices committed by the company for which he is interning. Franck faces a decision of what is right and wrong, but also a decision that could destroy a potential successful future.



Laurent Cantet's vision depicts the social inequality between the rich and poor in a modern society thought the business student Franck and his choices. Cantet also displays the daily hard work of the blue-collar population, as their daily endeavors are frequently directed by the white-collar sector. Through the careful direction of Cantet the audience gets to experience a political cinematic experience, which offers much food for thought. The cinematography enhances the experience through the documentary-like style of the film as it creates an authentic atmosphere. This authentic atmosphere makes the story so much more personal to the audience, which in the end leaves the audience pondering social difference.

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Great Taut Working Class Drama

Black Peter | Brooklyn | 09/24/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a surprisingly strong film about labor and family relations in small French suburb. This earlier feature by one of France's rising stars of Cinema (see his exceptional TIME OUT) is heart breaking in it's depection of factory life and the mutability of family ties. With excellent real life performances the films near documentary style only adds to it's power."