This year we have been captivated by ‘Separación’, one of the surprises of the year that has managed, from a level close to science fiction but also very surreal, to make a scathing commentary on modern work environments. From the alienating environments, the unsettling management trying to keep employees at bay, to even the costs to be paid in order to thrive in the system.
It is not the only fiction that has tried to capture the exhausting sensations derived from office work and labor exploitation in the modern capitalist system. Comes to mind, for example, the hilarious ‘Crap job‘ by Mike Judge, which is well worth rescuing. Although an original and very discreet cult piece called ‘Sorry to Bother You‘, which from today can be seen on Netflix when it is added to the catalog.
when destiny calls you
This little Sundance 2018 sensation was the directorial debut of Boots Riley, the activist musician who has lent his voice to projects like The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club alongside Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello. His songs have regularly toured around the social and economic inequalities of modern societyand that is also transferred to his debut film that he also writes -and, of course, makes the soundtrack-.
In ‘Sorry to Bother You’ we follow an ordinary black worker (Lakeith Stanfield) dedicated to telemarketing, frustrated by his monotonous and unedifying job where he can’t progress. Suddenly, they discover the key to progress in the company and also in any work and economic field comes your way: appear to have a white person’s voice.
It is something that shocks a lot, but it is successful almost instantly, and our worker begins to climb the rungs in pairs within the company, which also tries to look good in the face of the gallery for its controversies regarding working conditions. Riley then further develops these toads that workers in the lower echelons have to swallow for the sake of getting out of that situation to reach one that has been sold to them as more desirable.
‘Sorry to Bother You’: biting and surprising satire
Of course, there is criticism of all the aspects that corporatism also touches, from economic inequality to racism. It does so through interesting film references, including some clear ones to Spike Lee, and also a lot of surrealism that makes the evolution that follows really surprisingespecially from the equator forward.
There is a lot that Riley tries to cover, and he tries to condense it into less than two hours. But it is not undeniable that he has interesting ideas that he tells in an interesting way, both narratively and purely visually, and his punk spirit -which he already wore in his hiphop work- is as undeniable as it is grateful. ‘Sorry to Bother You’ is a film destined to leave no one indifferent and can be one of the great surprises for many people, having the opportunity that it did not have in theaters with a very marginal premiere.