Fiatamlet

Alternative title: Fiat Hamlet, A
Synopsis: Documentary about the Fiat car company and its operations in Turin. The film uses Hamlet as a mirror for scrutinising Turin’s working-class past viewed through Fiat’s failing fortunes. In its industrial heyday, Turin was the auto worker capital of Europe, but declining sales led to factory closures and massive layoffs. City officials are keen to refashion another image, but Ceste uses the ghost’s imperative in Hamlet "Remember me" to call attention to the wilful suppression of its proletariat past. Interviews with sociologists, set within the mangled remains of factories, are crosscut with writer Beppe Rosso and a staged reading of Hamlet using Fiat workers as actors. Shakespeare’s words act as a springboard for relevant discussions of labour history and responsibility.
Language: Italian (Standard)
Country: Italy
Medium: Film
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 2003
Duration: 66 mins
Availability: No archive copy or distributor known (6/2013)