As my German grandmother is fond of saying, "mit Arbeit versaut man sich das halbe Leben," which translates to "through work you ruin half your life". In Ermanno Olmi's masterpiece Il Posto, work is portrayed as a prison, an obstacle to romantic love or a disruption of the natural rhythm of life. To secure a job in a corporation for the rest of your life, then, is a life sentence. And yet the young man Domenico, with the encouragement of his parents, earnestly endeavours, even desires, to obtain such a job, to be wrested from the comfort of his childish existence and to enter into a wholly unfamiliar world.The director depicts the violence of the transition from childhood to adulthood and from simple small town life to the organized chaos of the city with great subtlety. His use of non-professional actors adds to the film's realism: Sandro Panseri effortlessly channels Domenico's discomfort and awkwardness owing to his unfamiliar surroundings and new experiences because starring in a film for the first time must have had the same effect on the actor. The attraction between Domenico and Antonietta feels genuine as does the intimacy of their interactions. A scene in which Domenico unsuccessfully attempts to suppress a smile upon seeing Antonietta is particularly memorable and affecting.The outstanding sound design and cinematography reinforce the themes of the film without attracting unwarranted attention. The obtrusive cacophony of incessant traffic and construction reflects and enhances the anxiety of Domenico and Antonietta but also grants them the anonymity through which they can develop their attraction to each other. By way of contrast, the monastic silence of the office represents the stultification of youthful energy and personal expression. The director uses long shots to convey the isolation and vulnerability of Domenico. Hand-held shots give the viewer the feeling of being in the midst of a throng of people. The black and white photography is starkly beautiful.Although Olmi's vision of modern life is bleak, he enlivens the film with humour. In one scene Domenico's father, a reluctant participant in a ploy to allow his son to go out one night, pretends to retire for the night only to reemerge from his bedroom seconds later shaking his head. The workers at the corporation appear to be employed for no other reason than to pass the time as they sit in their desks. One rolls a cigarette unhurriedly, another cleans out a drawer in his desk, and a third works on a manuscript for a novel, all in plain view of their supervisor. The perspective of the film shifts here to portray the lives of the workers individually inside of their own homes. Their lack of agency at work is mirrored at home where they have to endure vexatious landlords because they do not earn enough to purchase a property.By the end of the film, it becomes clear that the achievement of obtaining a job for life is at best bittersweet, an escape from a miserable life of penury at the expense of happiness and fulfillment. Notwithstanding that one might be nostalgic for an era where permanent, lifelong positions were abundant, Il Posto resonates with the viewer of today, inasmuch as capitalism and alienated labour, along with their attendant harms, remain as prevalent as ever.

Ermanno Olmi is one of those filmmakers whose name does get obscured a bit in popular lists of great Italian filmmakers of all time. However his status as a very influential director can never be questioned as some of the great directors of our times like Mike Leigh and a number of others constantly cite him as a major influence. The first thing that I noticed while watching 'Il Posto' was that Olmi's style of filmmaking and the way he treats his characters is very reminiscent of Italian neo-realism, specially the early works of De Sica. As a matter of fact this film can be easily viewed as a companion piece to 'The Bicycle Thieves'. Bicycle Thieves was set in the immediate backdrop of the devastations of WW2 and followed a poor man desperately trying to track his stolen bicycle in order to retain his precious job in a frail economy. 'Il Posto' is set in early 1960s Italy where the economy is slowly getting back on its feet with industrialisation in the cosmopolitan cities like Milan. The protagonist is a young, wide eyed boy named Domenico who applies for a job. For me these two plot summaries easily juxtapose each other and offer themselves perfectly for a double feature. Olmi also points out the differences in lifestyle, living conditions and people's mindsets between rural Italy and urban Italy in the most visually succinct way. The influence of De Sica is also visible in Olmi's economical use of dialogue and his stress on catching the subtle expression on the characters' faces without them saying much.For me the primary theme of 'Il Posto' is the premature loss of youth. Domenico is nothing but a very young, innocent boy who gets pushed into the unfamiliar corporate world at a very early stage in his life. He has to carry out his family's decision which involves him working and earning with his father while his younger brother is the one who gets to study. This theme of forced premature adulthood gets further underlined in one particular scene at the very beginning of the film. It is the scene where Domenico gets jealous when he sees his brother using his book strap and starts arguing with him, but their mother intervenes and asks Domenico to leave his brother alone as Domenico is too old for such juvenile arguments as he is about to start working. The look on Domenico's face broke my heart. It is a feeling which is universal and very relatable. Actually this scene is very reminiscent of a scene in Satyajit Ray's 'Pather Panchali' where the young siblings Durga and Apu are fighting with each other and then their mother sets them apart and scolds Durga and tells her that she is too old for this. 90% of the film is from Domenico's point of view. We see him discover the new world of industrialisation and corporate culture. The cute young romance that develops between Domenico and a fellow applicant Antonietta is adorable. Antonietta represents the youthful, innocent spirit that Domenico yearns for in his life. But unfortunately the romance is short lived and the hard reality of adulthood will perhaps always keep her at a distance from Domenico. The script for the film written by Olmi and Ettore Lombardo is a comment on the rapid industrialisation in post war Italy as well as the dehumanisation of workers in the corporations. Olmi shoots certain scenes in the office in a way which makes Domenico and the other applicants look very small in proportion to the surroundings. We see departmental stores and construction sites all over Milan. There are also certain scenes involving physical examination being carried out by the officers in the corporation which almost look like a group of people being trained to become faceless nobodies in the organisation. However having said all that, Olmi never treats the officers in the organisation with disrespect. All the officers are not bad people. They actually are helpful in some ways. Olmi is putting the blame on the system but not the people in it.There is a sequence in the film where Olmi leaves Domenico's point of view and gives us an insight into the personal lives of the people who will be colleagues of Domenico once he gets the job. These are old, lovable, shy and introverted men who have devoted themselves to their pointless work in the corporation and have nothing to enjoy and look forward to after going back home from work which somewhat reminded me of the lyrics to the song 'Streets of London' by Ralph McTell. All they can do is fight over desks. In a way, Olmi is showing us what Domenico's future could be like. The film ends on a horrifying/heartbreaking note. We see Domenico sitting in a row with the other employees and observing what his life will probably look like forever. Domenico looks at the mimeograph and we hear the terrible, constant metallic noise of the machine as the end credits appear. We are left to ponder over whether Domenico be able to have a proper life and maybe pursue Antonietta or will he be sucked into this company vacuum and be forced to lead a meaningless, joyless life like his co-workers.Praise has to be showered on two brilliant amateurs Sandro Panseri and Loredana Detto. Panseri plays the character of Domenico with the correct amount of innocence and naivety and makes him extremely relate able to every single viewer. Detto is just adorable. The cute and short romance between them is completely believable. 'Il Posto' is a beautiful, thoughtful film made by someone who clearly understands human beings. This is a film about the loss of youth and the loss of an identity in a fast changing world. This was my first taste of an Ermanno Olmi film, but I'm very sure it won't be my last.

Why have I not heard of this film until now? Finally, something to show me how I look when I go to an orientation for a new job, or even when I go to the DMV. These are the facts of life that we grow into.The film starts out with our protagonist, Domenico, going to take an aptitude test where he knows no one in the group. To be honest, I don't think much of the people are acquainted at all. There are a couple of guys who talk amongst each other, and there is a mom who is supervising her young son in the group, but that is it. Everyone else is on their own. Normalcy is a child's game at this point.Domenico, who we see before the CREDITS lives with his parents and younger brother, whom he has no problem expressing himself around when their at home, but when he is out in the real world, getting a job, he becomes some sort of a pet. A monkey, seeing and doing what other monkey see and do.This is how we learn from one another; to be considered normal is a rash statement but in this case, normal is the best way of of things. It is the safest defense mechanism. And that is how I would describe our lead character; Safe.Things start to look up as he begins talking with a fellow girl in the group named Antonietta. The scene with them two make the film. She is a drop dead gorgeous girl, played by Loredana Detto, who actually goes on marrying the director having this film be her only one.Domenico ends up getting the job, obviously, but the mind games still continue. - This might seem like a basic foreign film where nothing really happens but it is not. In fact, this has a lot to do about life and fitting in; learning things the hard way.

A beautiful, sweet little neo-realist slice-of-life picture. Sandro Panseri has been taken out of school by his parents and been thrust into the working world in Milan. While applying for his first job, a job for life in an office, he meets up with a female applicant, Loredana Detto, and the two form a quick connection despite their shyness toward the opposite sex. When their jobs actually start, though, the two are separated, their brief romance begins to fade and it looks like they might never meet again. That's pretty much the whole story (we do get a lot of insights into how this job-for-life is going to go for the two protagonists based on the lives of the other office workers we observe), but as small and gentle as it is, man, does it hit hard. I mean, who hasn't had this experience of missed opportunity? And the film's observations about a life at work are spot on, too. The best film I've seen in a long while.