.

Didier Cros‘ biting documentary The Job is essentially The Apprentice on steroids; ten unemployed  hopefuls  enter a board room expecting a job interview, only to find that they are to be pitted against each other in a series of gruelling challenges,  with a minimum wage job waiting at the end of the rainbow. By the  marathon’s end, the candidates are sweating, and Cros has shed a light on the oppressive power dynamic between  interviewees and their prospective employers.

Where  The Apprentice  exploits its trumped-up “reality” label  (pun intended) for cheap laughs, The Job  opts to play it straight, and attempts to evoke a more nuanced, emotional response to the stigmatization of unemployment as represented by  the ten candidates. The degree of success, however, is a mixed bag because our understanding of the candidates is rather shallow.  While it is indeed easy to feel for  them as they are grilled  in an interview by five inscrutable executives, the film never goes beyond the surface to reveal the backgrounds of any of these people.  Though The Job (unlike The Apprentice) in no way attempts to make melodrama of the competition,  the film  ignores the  audience’s desire to  pick a horse and root  for it.  Commentary and observation  are limited to the  recruitment challenge at hand,  and a detached tone is maintained  throughout.

Of course, this wouldn’t be such a problem if the film didn’t  demand emotional investment. But we are implicitly asked to  take up arms  with the candidates against the  merciless executives, and ask how they could send away these put-upon individuals without batting an eyelash. Instead, our lack of understanding places  the viewer squarely in the shoes of the employer who – in one of the film’s recurring metaphors – refuse to look at the candidates’ CVs. By denying access to their inner lives, the film somewhat paradoxically prevents us from becoming attached to the people involved.

The Job  is more easily observed on an intellectual level, as an examination of  the lengths to which  people will  go to obtain even the most  menial of jobs in a post-recession era, and the power that is exercised over them. The whole process has a “mice in a maze” vibe to it, as candidates  are made to attack or mock each other to the amusement of the watching  recruiters. Perhaps the most illuminating question posed is “is it worth it?”. The candidates say yes, as the alternative is the harsh failure of decay and  unemployment. However,  there is a dawning sense towards the end of the film that the recruiters are seeking not the most qualified or competent  candidates, but rather the most impressionable, the easiest to mold. Thus we are meant to wonder whether obtaining (and accepting)  the job is not in some way a failure of an entirely different kind; a backhanded compliment commending your willingness to submit to authority. There  is a constant tension at  work, dramatizing  the relinquishing of one’s values and individualism for the sake of a minimum wage  salary, all measured within the context of a  job market that  makes no room for anyone.  The Job raises plenty of  provocative questions that will make for excellent post-show debate at the nearest cafe.

To close, it is worth reiterating that The Job is a lot like  The Apprentice on steroids.  It takes socal issues that  bubble under the surface of “reality” TV’s favorite comb-over, and brings them to the forefront. While not successful in every regard, it does manage to  accomplish the difficult feat  of removing “the boardroom” from a long list of post-millenium TV euphemisms. And it provides some  nourishing food for thought too.

The Job is screening at Hot Docs on Friday, April 27, 2012 at 9:00 pm, Sunday, April 29, 2012 at 1:30 pm and Sunday, May 6, 2012 at 1:15 pm. Check the Hot Docs website for tickets and additional details.

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Noam Kaufman

Noam Kaufman is a cinephile by day, concert-goer by night. He cherishes doumentaries and foreign films, which enable him to indulge his dual love of reading and watching simultaneously. If he isn’t at a concert hall or movie theater, you might be able to find him at York University, where he occasionally moonlights as a student.

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