Although it’s been overlooked for his more polished work with director Federico Fellini, in 1963 the ordinarily suave Marcello Mastroianni played unkempt labor activist Prof. Sinigaglia, a transient traversing the gradually industrializing villages and towns in southern Italy. Trading his customary braggadocio for abject poverty, Mastroianni settles into the everyday life of the factory workers, who have decided to confront management in the aftermath of yet another maiming at their plant. Undisciplined and angry, their initial attempt at shutting down operations fails, resulting in harsh punishments and fines. It’s not until Sinigaglia’s arrival that the townspeople begin to realize their value and develop a strategy to regain their dignity.

Mastroianni’s accomplishments as a fast talker are well utilized in this film, which more or less accurately represents the difficulties facing workers as they struggle first with collective decision making and the compromises that inhere in the process, and the ensuing strike. Director Mario Monicelli does well to avoid what would be perceived as a balanced portrayal, capturing the grim realities of life during a strike, bone-gnawing hunger foremost among them. Sinagaglia proves a man of ceaseless compassion for his fellow workers - and like any good organizer gets to know everyone personally. In gaining their trust, he assures them that they will win a better contract, but their victory will be nominal at best.

The Organizer, like Visconti’s La Terra Trema, shows Italy in its nationalistic chrysallis, with local interests prevailing over some unimaginable greater good, with demonstrations of solidarity from charitable organizations, local shopkeepers, and the local military who feed the striking workers from their ration of soup. As much as Sinigaglia would like to teach the liturgy of nonviolent civil disobedience, the workers find themselves fighting for their jobs and lives when management imports replacement workers by train, and when the battle on the tracks of the railyard results in the death of their elected representative, the workers recommit themselves to defeating management for the sake of their comrade’s sacrifice.

The Organizer’s message remains one of enduring value - that for progressive underdogs one must maintain optimism and courage in the face of a stronger, brutal opponent whose goal is to convince the poorest among us that their death would be for the greater good, and that they should happily die knowing that they contributed to the national interest. The Organizer demonstrates that the hardfought incremental gains are the stuff of progress, and that there are things bigger than oneself worth believing in and sacrificing for.