L’industriale, 2011

Giuliano Montaldo, born in 1930, is the anthropomorphic transliteration of legend and law. Some refer to him as the “Lion King” of Italian cinema; still able to scratch, stun and roar like few others today. In the Film L’industriale (The Entrepreneur), Montaldo portrays a modernistic socio-economic and emotional crisis using classical staging.

The characters, Nicola and Laura, along with their friends and family come to life and struggle to go out from the dilemma of Eurozone’s economic crises and its consequences that stretched from Nicola’s inherited factory to his private life at home. Nicola, on the brink of bankruptcy, inherited a factory in Turin from his father at the age of 40.

A storm of unfortunate events all happen at once, conspiring to knock Nicola down when the factory he inherits from his father begins to fail and, the factory workers nervously pressure him to discuss their future. When the banks refuse his loan request all hope is apparently lost. Laura’s mother-in-law; a cold and heartless woman who predicts his every move and failure makes matters even harder.

Nicola’s depression gets worse by the day and he is no fun to be around. That was when Laura recklessly starts to hang out with a nice and attractive parking lot attendant. Nicola was already losing it with the situation at work and was definitely not ready for what was going on at home.
Nicola’s and Laura’s life collapse right before their eyes but nobody is willing to take the blame; is it Eurozone? Is it Nicola’s pride? Or is it Laura who was supposed to live with her husband’s pride and failure?

Basically, what The Entrepreneur team was trying to show was how the characters’ life was brought down by circumstances beyond their control. However, was it really beyond their control? I’m afraid so!

As a well known film critic once wrote; “A great movie tells a complex story and then steps back, affecting everyone who sees it differently, while a good movie entertains by showing us what it wants us to see and manipulating how we feel about it.”