ABSTRACT
The award-winning film Los Lunes al Sol (2001) traces the lives of a group of men recently made redundant by the closure of a shipyard in Vigo (Galicia). Some manage to find new employment, whereas others struggle to do so and see their personal lives unravel. José, for example, resents the fact that his wife acts as the breadwinner while he struggles with long-term unemployment. The men mostly gather to drink. Their meeting spot is the pub of a former colleague, who used the severance payment to open the establishment. One drinking session escalates into an argument over the defeat of the industrial dispute that preceded the closure. One reprimands the others for having engaged in the hopeless occupation of the shipyard in an effort to resist the inevitable. Competition from South Korea simply made the firm unprofitable. Santa, the protagonist, pushes back and insists on setting the record straight. He remains proud of the class solidarity displayed during that struggle, even if some of his fellow strikers, including the pub owner, ended taking a deal from the employer. He also disputes that the firm was unprofitable, claiming that they offered their bosses to work unpaid hours to cut costs but that the latter refused. He explains their bosses’ decision by noting that property speculation offered far higher returns. The ongoing real estate boom made the shipyard’s lands, located in the city centre, a prime location for redevelopment.
