The Good Boss - Movie Review
Blanco Scales is a respectable manufacturer in town. Julio Blanco (Javier Bardem) has inherited the business of making “Industrial Scales” from his father and is considered the best by his employees. He is a father, an elder brother and a well-wisher to everyone at the workplace. Except, that he is selfish, self-centred and cunning to the core.
Well, this is a “fictional story” but the guy is real in blood and flesh all over the place. The Spanish language film, dubbed in English is now playing on Amazon Prime. Considered to be of a Dramedy genre – Comedy + drama (loads of it), the story moves very slowly, building the audience’s patience. But few cannot not- relate to this guy, whom we see around everywhere.
The movie begins with Blanco having to let-go of one of his long serving employees, Jose. In shock at his job loss, already undergoing a painful separation with his wife with a partial custody of his kids, Jose is shattered. He even gets his kids to plead with Blanco to retain his job. But of no avail. Jose camps outside the factory, parking his kids and car and screaming at the top of his voice to get Blanco’s attention to get back his job.
Meanwhile, Fontana’s son is caught by the cops due to arson and street fight. Blanco steps in to support the kid and gets him a delivery job at his wife’s boutique. Except that his wife doesn’t do deliveries. 3 interns join the company and are being shown the various departments, how they work, etc. Blanco sets his eyes on one of the girls. Miralles, another long-serving employee is also going through a personal crisis. His wife wants to leave him and he is unable to pay enough attention at work, ordering the wrong components, delaying deliveries to clients, etc. Blanco first tries to meet her at the town’s hypermarket where she works. He pleads with her to get back to Miralles, though she shows no interest to his request. He then steps in with Miralles to snoop around his wife Aurora, to find her whereabouts, etc. Only to find that she is in fact, going around with Khaled – an Arab, another of his employees who is Miralles’ arch-rival at work!
Blanco meets Aurora again and pleads her to patch up with Miralles; when she refuses, he advises her not to go around with Khaled. She slaps on his face. Yeah.
Jose continues his fight outside the factory and refuses to tone down. When Blanco meets him face to face, offering him a job & a compensation, Jose says he is not interested and swears to keep insulting and intimidating Blanco all the time. The security guard Roman is helpless with Jose’s antics, to which he gets chided all the time by Blanco.
Blanco decides to put everything to rest; he gives a Ballet ticket to Roman, asks Fontana’s son to get rid of Jose and relieves Miralles from the job, only to award it to Khaled. But why?
Because the city’s esteemed Committee is expected to visit the Factory the next day for an inspection and would decide which is the best one in town and give them an Award. Blanco goes all out to win the Award, only to show his cruel side. So much so that he decides to name the new product line Salva – Fontana’s kid who gets killed during the altercation with Jose.
The Good Boss is a movie, but there is more reality here than fiction. People like him exist in this real world, who are self-motivated to achieve goals that suit them, serve their personal interests and in many cases, driving the personal and professional lives of their employees in to oblivion.
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