The Working Class Goes to Heaven

Lulù Massa is a model factory worker in 1970s Italy, prized by management for his extraordinary speed on the line and resented by colleagues whose demands over safety and conditions he dismisses. His relentless pursuit of higher output strains his health and his relationship with his girlfriend, while students outside the gates shout slogans about pay and working conditions that seem remote from the shop floor. After he loses a finger in an accident at the plant, his outlook shifts: he joins the striking workers and becomes one of their most vocal spokesmen, setting off a conflict involving unions, revolutionaries and the company.

Elio Petri directed and co-wrote the film with Ugo Pirro, four years after their Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion and following The 10th Victim among the features he directed. Gian Maria Volonté plays Lulù, with Mariangela Melato as Lidia and Salvo Randone as Militina heading a credited cast of 29. The film won the Grand Prix at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival and was shot at the Falconi factory in Novara.

On IMDb it holds 7.6/10 from around 4,700 votes, and on TMDB 7.8/10 from roughly 394 votes, indicating a well-regarded title whose audience remains comparatively modest.