Another great documentary on the many metallurgical strikes on the ABC area in the late 1970's and early 1980's, "Linha de Montagem" ("Assembling Line") by
Renato Tapajós gives plenty of insight over the workers struggle for better working conditions and better payments, how they dealt with the army and police forces
as each strike grew more and more, and how an important figure that emerged from their base succeed it in becoming a magnificent, charismatic and eloquent leader
that gave to the masses a great deal of respect and integrity while trying to negotiate with their bosses for those benefits. The man in question is the one and
only Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, union leader that later on entered politics, founded PT (the Workers Party) and became president of Brazil for three successful terms,
with a platform dedicated to social causes and poverty reduction.
It covers the same ground as Leon Hirszman's "ABC da Greve" - and both projects were filmed at the same time and Leon even was thanked in the credits, though
his film would only get released after his death. But while that film was unfinished and had lost some of its material, it falls short with some issues of which
this film benefits a lot more with the inclusion of countless interviews with Lula and other syndicate leaders and workers, and also covered is the period Lula
stayed in prison and everything was uncertain if the strike could continue or not, there was a great deal of uncertainty among workers. Another key difference
is that this film managed to get a wider view of everything since Lula and others look back at things when things were already dissolved and workers already had
gained things, unlike "ABC" where it's mostly the initial strike. There are a handful of reunions here, all very detailed following their reunions on stadiums,
churches and the metallurgical union place (in the most heartfelt moment of the film Lula feels he's disappointed the people and he asks if that was a fact then
they could vote him out and they refused).
In between similarities and differences they're both outstanding works about the early workers strikes that challenged the military regime establishment and
succeed it in not becoming tragic events despite the whole repression and general feeling that something could go wrong. It's interesting to notice the moments
when the workers win some good deal, and also when they lose as well. There's a company featured, can't remember the name, that promised to not fire any of the
workers who went on strike but when it's time to return to work they were all fired. It's a very compelling moment that could border a higher tragedy but it
didn't.
A very impressive film by all accounts, along with the forementioned documentary and I add to those the short "Braços Cruzados, Máquinas Paradas" which
covers the very first strike on ABC in 1978, also very fascinating to see how little by little workers gathered together, found the courage to fight against
the illegality of unions back then and made themselves to be heard by authorities and with the later events they were all heard by the nation and a sense of conscious
grew stronger and many other working categories learned how to use of the legal power of strike to get a decent way of living. But sadly some strikes and some
movements end up in deaths, such as the CSN strike of 1988. It's a fundamental and mandatory piece to understand how the union movements across Brazil became a
powerful force in society and politics after 1980. It lost a little of its relevance after countless work reforms in 2017 but they're still key players in some areas. 9/10Another great documentary on the many metallurgical strikes on the ABC area in the late 1970's and early 1980's, "Linha de Montagem" ("Assembling Line") by
Renato Tapajós gives plenty of insight over the workers struggle for better working conditions and better payments, how they dealt with the army and police forces
as each strike grew more and more, and how an important figure that emerged from their base succeed it in becoming a magnificent, charismatic and eloquent leader
that gave to the masses a great deal of respect and integrity while trying to negotiate with their bosses for those benefits. The man in question is the one and
only Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, union leader that later on entered politics, founded PT (the Workers Party) and became president of Brazil for three successful terms,
with a platform dedicated to social causes and poverty reduction.
It covers the same ground as Leon Hirszman's "ABC da Greve" - and both projects were filmed at the same time and Leon even was thanked in the credits, though
his film would only get released after his death. But while that film was unfinished and had lost some of its material, it falls short with some issues of which
this film benefits a lot more with the inclusion of countless interviews with Lula and other syndicate leaders and workers, and also covered is the period Lula
stayed in prison and everything was uncertain if the strike could continue or not, there was a great deal of uncertainty among workers. Another key difference
is that this film managed to get a wider view of everything since Lula and others look back at things when things were already dissolved and workers already had
gained things, unlike "ABC" where it's mostly the initial strike. There are a handful of reunions here, all very detailed following their reunions on stadiums,
churches and the metallurgical union place (in the most heartfelt moment of the film Lula feels he's disappointed the people and he asks if that was a fact then
they could vote him out and they refused).
In between similarities and differences they're both outstanding works about the early workers strikes that challenged the military regime establishment and
succeed it in not becoming tragic events despite the whole repression and general feeling that something could go wrong. It's interesting to notice the moments
when the workers win some good deal, and also when they lose as well. There's a company featured, can't remember the name, that promised to not fire any of the
workers who went on strike but when it's time to return to work they were all fired. It's a very compelling moment that could border a higher tragedy but it
didn't.
A very impressive film by all accounts, along with the forementioned documentary and I add to those the short "Braços Cruzados, Máquinas Paradas" which
covers the very first strike on ABC in 1978, also very fascinating to see how little by little workers gathered together, found the courage to fight against
the illegality of unions back then and made themselves to be heard by authorities and with the later events they were all heard by the nation and a sense of conscious
grew stronger and many other working categories learned how to use of the legal power of strike to get a decent way of living. But sadly some strikes and some
movements end up in deaths, such as the CSN strike of 1988. It's a fundamental and mandatory piece to understand how the union movements across Brazil became a
powerful force in society and politics after 1980. It lost a little of its relevance after countless work reforms in 2017 but they're still key players in some areas. 9/10.
