The Organizer

The Organizer (1963)

Genres - Drama  |   Sub-Genres - Political Drama  |   Run Time - 126 min.  |   Countries - Italy  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

The Organizer (I Compagni) takes a gritty, near-documentary approach to its subject matter: the exploitation of Italian laborers in the 19th century. Shorn of all his studio-imposed glamour, Marcello Mastrioanni plays a Genoan political refugee visiting a friend in Turin. Appalled by the horrible working conditions in the town's textile mill, Mastrioanni stays on to organize the workers in a strike. Though he is nearly killed several times, Mastrioanni survives to set an example for the workers, who rally together into a powerful union. The fact that Marcello Mastrioanni was bearded and bespectacled in the manner of a Bolshevist radical was enough for The Organizer to be condemned by certain extreme anti-Communist elements in Hollywood--to no avail, since the film was nominated for an American Oscar, and even given a commendation by the ultraconservative National Board of Review.

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Themes

Keywords

union [labor union], labor [work], labor-issues, labor-leader, labor-relations, political-refugee, striker, mill