Spine 610: The Organizer

Lost in Criterion

Mario Monicelli's The Organizer's title, like De Sica's Bicycle Thieves 15 years before it, had its title senselessly singularized for English release. The original title I compagni means "The Comrades" and is a bit more indicative of the ensemble organizing that is going on here. The story of a late 19th century textile mill strike, The Organizer is a warts and all look at workers exercising their power and capital bringing everything it has to crush them, from "haven't I always been good to you" manipulation to bullets.

The Organizer is the final film released by the Criterion Collection before we first started recording Lost in Criterion in April 2012, and with that milestone I wrote a short reflection on what the podcast has become, available free at our patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/milestone-and-110655785