Showing @ Cineworld, Edinburgh, Fri 28 & Sat 29 Jun

Tudor Giurgiu / Romania / 2012 / 90 mins

With the rise of online sales, a number of high-street retailers have recently had to close or go into administration. Tudor Giurgiu’s simple but provocative tale depicts what can happen when those working for a company earmarked for closure, refuse to accept their fate.

When their car-manufacturing plant is being sold to a team of Frenchmen, who wish to convert the building into a smaller-scale snail-canning factory, leader of the worker’s union George (Andi Vasluianu) can’t accept the impending job losses. Unable to think up a conventional way to save the business, he resorts to radical measures in order to raise the money needed to buy the building and secure everyone’s careers.

There’s a touch of The Full Monty about this story of the working class masses taking on the wealthy elite, the sometimes-pictured snails paralleling the down trodden labourers. While the narrative is by no means original, set in small town Romania in the early 90s, the stark near-industrial architecture and the retro two-piece tracksuits, add a certain quirky charm to proceedings. It’s George’s crusading passion (like Robert Carlyle’s Gaz) unfazed by gossip or reputation that’s the biggest draw, while at the same time it’s his sudden change from cock-sure to soft-footed that uncomfortably niggles. The rather abrupt and unexplained ending typifies the frustrations of this interesting but not engrossing picture.

Showing as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013

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