A New Shift

Certainly, a good and praiseworthy piece of work. Unfortunately, though, it was hard for me to shake the feeling that this thorough labour of three years gathering information deserves more than its modest 90 minute runtime – that could be enough to properly impress the viewer with the smartly presented contrasts (filth and darkness in the mines vs white gleaming offices; long, messy hair vs short, elegant cuts; manual labour and getting legless in a pub vs static occupation and constant mind challenges) and the social appeals around an underserved status quo and the dramatic raise of automated labour – but I didn’t feel much of a truly empathetic connection with the protagonist and his thought processes, even though I believe it’s something Jindřich Andrš truly tried to do. I also felt that the shifts between the different stages were too fast and their main ideas were always somehow relayed through not very convincing dialogues (an argument at the pub, confiding in colleagues during a fancy-dress ball). What is good on the other hand, and what I praise, are the unambiguous intelligibility and the solid line of argument, from which the film never deviates drastically. Naturally, I feel a little sorry for Tomáš, someone who after 20 years of loyal service performing what for most people is unimaginably hard work had to leave his job without any other qualifications, and the documentary shows him as he is, stating with straightforward simplicity how the “Ostrava American dream” can also come to an end in this inhospitable times. And it can also be forgiven that, with the exception of the opening minutes, the material lacks that utter brutality and psychological burden that the British kitchen sink realism from the 1960s boasted. This is nothing fundamentally revolutionary, and the time-lapse method presents many of the motifs in a very hasty and simplified way, but the true and also symbolic story of a likeable protagonist is effective and offers a welcome view into another dark page of modern automatisation, as well as the eternal flame of hope. Personally, I would have appreciated a more honest removal of the mask of the exemplary fighter and a more thorough examination of the social and psychological problems, but as a statement about one stage of life that aims to positively stimulate the self-confidence of a person who lacks a vision of the future, this interesting portrait is certainly valuable – though not so much as a timid and poorly structured appeal to society as a whole. 65% (27.10.2020)

This is some big change. I bet not many people would be able to make the transition from miner to computer programmer. It's a bit science fiction, but things like that do happen, as Jindřich Andrš shows in his time-lapse documentary about the case of nice-guy Tomáš Hisem. He has my great admiration, if only because even at his relatively advanced age, he has achieved the impossible in the job market and still kept his face. (80%) (18.05.2022)