ABC of a Strike

Leon Hirszman's documentary records the metalworkers' strike of 1979 in the industrial belt outside São Paulo. The camera enters the meetings outside the factories, the union building and the negotiating table. Its force comes from being filmed from inside. Decisions, moments of voting and the workers' arguments among themselves are shown uncut; the narrative follows the process without announcing its outcome. Hirszman died in 1987 before finishing the material, and the film was edited and released years later. By then one of the leaders of the strike had become a known figure in national politics, and the documentary drew additional attention for it. Who it's for: those who follow labour history and Brazilian documentary. Who it's not for: viewers unfamiliar with the context; the film does not explain the political background of the period.