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Two Days One Night Essay

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Two Days, One Night is a Belgian film by the Dardenne Brothers. It stars Marion Cotillard as Sandra, a factory worker who is about to lose her job. She has to convince about a dozen of her co-workers over the course of two days and one night in order to keep her job. At the beginning when Sandra learns that she 's going to lose her job she is devastated but reluctant to fight back. Throughout the movie we learn the reasons of her reluctance and unemployment. And through Sandra 's own story we 're shown a bigger one. The Dardenne Brothers had the idea for the film from a real-life case in a French factory where the workers got a bonus while a female worker whose work wasn’t sufficient enough for the factory was fired. Apparently there were …show more content…

As we watch we see there are actually several reasons why the boss decides either Sandra will go or the bonus: While Sandra couldn’t go to work because of her illness, they decide that the work could be done without her and the current number of employees is enough for the job; the foreman in the factory believes that Sandra’s performance after her depression will be decreased (maybe there are other reasons that we don’t know of why the foreman tries to get Sandra fired; after all it’s not unheard of for people to not like their subordinates). Whatever the reason for all this, the boss lets the workers to decide and washes his hands clean off of the situation. So says Sandra to all the workers she meets. “It’s not my fault that you were forced to make the decision.” she tells them and one replies naturally as “It’s not my fault either.” That’s the main point that the film is trying to make: The solidarity between co-workers. While one worker says, “We are redecorating our apartment with my fiancée and we need the money” with a polite smile on her face, another one holds onto Sandra’s hands with a guilty conscience and cries his eyes out. And another worker speaks of his dilemma by saying, “I know I need to do the right thing, but the foreman has threaten me with losing my job”, but he does what he believes is right in the end, even though they lose the vote. And at the end of the movie when they offer his job to Sandra, this time Sandra does what she believe is right and leaves after she declines the offer. It’s not only Sandra who the boss puts in a difficult

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