Educational Media Reviews Online

Set up as a direct contrast to the 1974 book entitled Working, which reported people’s feelings about their jobs, Not Working explores the motives and reflections of unemployed Americans in the wake of the Great Recession. The film delivers sharply focused personal stories of people, including couples, who have lost their jobs for a number of reasons. The film makers do a fine job in illustrating the echoing effects of rampant unemployment on communities, economies, and regions. The film cites simple cause/effect relationships, along with elaborate linkages among interstate economic phenomena.

The hallmark of this work, however, remains the impacts of the interviews. Most interviews draw out the frustration and desperation amongst the interviewees, although a few story elements are uplifting. Personal narratives offer accounts of people reinventing their lives following the loss of their jobs, or a divorce, and constructive use of time during unemployment, including community service and working with youth. In some instances, interviewees with different experiences are paired to bounce ideas and feelings off one another. In these ways, patterns emerge so that the audience sees that these instances are evidence of economic trends.

The plight of the unemployed is captured with interviews with a nearly comprehensive array from the US labor force, including blue collar workers, white collar workers, various age groups, and more. This large scale inclusion, however, is reflected in the work’s duration. Although each story is undeniably touching and heartbreaking in its own special way, this film would have benefited from stricter editing, to reduce the overall run time and repetition. Audiences should note too that this film is the documentary counterpart of a book with the same title, authored by D.W. Gibson. One may perhaps divine what one needs from one and not the other.

As a side note, psychologists and counselors may find a great deal of value in this film, as it extensively addresses the issue of depression among the unemployed.