Céline Roustan
Get ready to cringe! In Arbete åt alla! (Jobs For All!), directing duo Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson (Ten Meter Tower) explore the broad idea of employment, the workplace and how it has evolved throughout the decades. The result is obviously not very pretty (hello capitalism!), but Van Aertryck and Danielson’s distinct and sharp sense of humor make this a deeply entertaining watch, one that will most likely make you laugh a few times – even if it might taste a little sour.
When we asked the directors (also credited as editors) what prompted them to take a deep dive into this particular topic, they shared with us that back in 2020, when the pandemic altered our usual work days, Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT asked them to make a film about work and granted them access to all of their archives. And so began their exploration of employment, the way it has been portrayed and discussed, from the Industrial Age until now.
As if often the case, especially in documentary, it’s the editing that shapes the narrative, but with Jobs For All! it’s down to the editing to create the narrative. From all that archival footage, Danielson & Van Aertryck manufacture a story infused with their sarcastic tone, which ultimately makes the film fun while forcing the audience to consider what work actually means to them. Is it work to live or live to work? How has capitalism changed the meaning of work and labor? While they don’t promise to answer those questions, they do show us how those concepts have evolved, thanks to all those archives they were allowed access to.
A worker wearing an upperbody exoskeleton to help complete tasks on the production line.
With a bit of hindsight, the antagonist here is definitely capitalism. And to create that element in their story, they use contrasting ideas to highlight the disconnect. From what was told to people back in the late 1800s to the actual working condition, from the archival footage where humans had jobs that now machines do, all the way to how we have polluted the planet, it’s all in there and works to escalate the film’s emotional impact very efficiently.
I have to admit that Ravel’s Boléro is my favorite piece of classical music and in Jobs For All! its cyclical nature is used perfectly to complement how repetitive and seemingly endless the working conditions can be. Oddly, it also really enhances the overall tone of the film. A tone that the directors craft with their sharp editing knife. I can’t imagine the hours of footage that were viewed to make this film, but the final cut is incredibly powerful, while also managing to maintain the filmmakers’ sarcastic humor. It all comes together to make a powerful short, which highlights how absurd work actually is!
Jobs For All! won the Audience Award at Clermont-Ferrand in 2022 and went on to be selected at Hot Docs, Guanajuato and Uppsala, ahead of its online release as a New York Times Op-Doc. The filmmakers are currently in post-production on a feature documentary about the history of the camera and its impact on human behavior.