Teamwork (2020)

In Snickeriet, a wooden workshop for the long term unemployed, a compassionate work leader and mentor Micke, tries to guide its inhabitants forward in their lives. The workshop serves as a hub for those who have difficulty finding their place in society by helping them to find their strengths, overcome difficulties and ultimately to get out of there and to lead inde-pendent lives. In this rewarding observational documentary, filmed in the style of Fredrick Wiseman, we get a close and intimate look into the workings of Snickeriet and into the lives of those working there.

Ville is a youthful man with curious eyes and an interest in gam-ing and who likes to reminisce about his adventures in virtual worlds with an unlikely friend. Micke tries to persuade him to apply for a work in gardening, but Ville is more interested in sudoku. Jami, a young guy with a shell of a tough guy has just arrived at Snickeriet after having been thrown out of his school and is now taking this second opportunity to show what he can do. In the kitchen, that is the meeting point and heart of Snick-eriet, the temperamental chef Pulmu listens to the touching and tender stories of generations of men, and tries to guide and encourage a newly arrived young woman, for whom even the opening of a tomato can is a challenge.

Micke is connected to everyone at Snickeriet and the film is a study of how he, like an umbrella affects everyone working with him. The question of what to do with one's life is a most pressing one and the answers at Snickeriet take many different forms.

A dark cloud appears and threatens to close the place and to drive out those who have found a safe haven at Snickeriet.

Keywords: choices in life | teamwork | motivation | carpenter | carpentry workshop | worker | tööteraapia | töötukassa | unemployment | View all »