In writer/director Laura Carreira’s social realist drama, Joana Santos stars as Aurora, a Portuguese migrant worker in a Scottish warehouse. Her job as a picker is joyless and alienating. It has few rewards and any reduction in productivity is seized upon. She lives in shared accommodation and her fellow residents are friendly enough, but she feels desperately lonely.
I found this to be an absorbing and totally believable depiction of a life in the modern world. As we blithely order from Amazon and other stores we are oblivious to the soulless jobs that exploited workers undertake in order for them to be met. There is not much in the way of a plot, instead the story is more of a slice of life.
Santos is superb, putting on a mask of cheerfulness even when she has to blow her entire food budget to get her phone fixed, her one means of making any sort of connection, or her unrequited tentative attraction to a new housemate. Aurora thinks she has a lifeline to a better life when she gets an interview for a social care job. But in an extraordinarily excruciating scene, she completely breaks down in the interview when asked an innocuous question about what she does outside of work.
Carreira, in her feature debut is rightfully receiving comparisons to Ken Loach, and that is high praise indeed.
On Falling is still on in selected cinemas and can be rented or bought to watch at home.
Rating: 9 out of 10