IL POSTO

Italy, 1963, 90 minutes, Black and white.
Loredanna Detto, Tullio Kezich.
Directed by Ermano Olmi.

Il Posto (The Job) was the first film of Italian director Ermanno Olmi. It is set in northern Italy, focusing on a young man of 17 going for a job interview in the city, returning to his family in the evening, going back when he gets the job - and glimpses of him at work, or not at work in the office. This simple story is done with sensitivity and style. The film, made in black and white, also has amateur actors. They recreate the atmosphere of Italy in the '50s and '60s, family life, bureaucracy, the earnest and eager young men facing life and work. Olmi was to go on to make a number of significant films over the next 30 years, including La Circostanza, and, especially, The Tree of Wooden Clogs.

1. The work of Ermanno Olmi? His initial film? His vision of Italy and Italian life?

2. Black and white photography, the provinces, the city of Milan? The streets, offices and workplaces? The musical score?

3. The title, its simplicity - and the focus on Domenico and his hopes for life?

4. The picture of the family, the parents, the children, the meals, meetings at home? Rooms? The detail? A picture of Italian life? The family and their interest in Domenico, welcoming him home, concern about his job? His mother buying him a coat? Their pride in their son?

5. Domenico, his background, going to Milan? Meeting the people in the waiting room, doing the intelligence tests? His meeting Magali and their talking, sharing? The further examinations, the tests, the interviews? The prospects of getting a job - and his good fortune in being hired? His uncertainties? Looking for Magali? His being an assistant, the uniform and trying it on? His delivering messages? His observation of people in the office? Meeting Magali, her work? The preparation for going to the New Year's dance? His dressing up, his being early, sitting at the tables? The entertainment, his dancing? His return to work - and the focus on him at the end of the film as he begins his working life? Questions about his future?

6. Magali, friendship with Domenico, making fun of his name, their chats, their backgrounds? The interviews? Her getting a job, chatting with him in the corridor? Meeting him at the dance?

7. The picture of the bureaucrats, at their desks, their complaints, people being sacked, the man writing the novel, the bosses? The modern buildings, old styles?

8. The tests, the questions, the administration? The group of young people going on the tests - walking in line through the city streets? The exams themselves? The interviews? The power that their employers hold over them?

9. The sequence of the New Year's dance, the band, the people arriving early, Domenico on his own? The dancing, the enjoyment, the happy new year?

10. The quality of the film, its perceptions on the ordinariness of human nature - and the value of ordinary human beings?