Lessons from ‘Down and Out’

The recently aired movie ‘Down and Out’ is reminiscent of how the merriest comedies could emanate from the bitterest facts. Let’s review the six lessons for your career, from the well-structured screenplay in the last part of this review.

The movie comes in two parts, the first half in which Iraj, the lead character, behaves arrogantly toward others; and the second, when he is humbled. Drawing a parallel with your own life, you might want to consider the following tips to avoid Iraj’s mistake.

In the previous parts, we reviewed six business lessons you can learn from the series. Here’s a wrap up.

First and foremost, employees and managers need to recognize that their esteemed organizations can go on without them. Pride is the next issue, which could trap you and make you feel you’re the front runner (though you might really be), and stop you from making an acceptable level of effort. Monitoring your rivals is of utmost importance, and ignoring it could be as harmful as the mistake arrogant people make.  It’s you who creates job security for you (by sparing no possible effort), and not your organization.

Stopping to learn is the next mistake, which needs to be avoided at all levels of the hierarchy. And last but not least, managers need to praise human resources, and refrain from laying them off; just to keep it as a last option.

The director of the series, made a new approach to people who are suddenly impoverished; the real pain was well depicted in the film, in the form of a bitter social comedy.

Iraj’s lamenting is utilized to show the audience that the difficult time is transient, and it’s not endless; hope is all the time encouraged.

The most conspicuous part of the screenplay is the situations in which Iraj struggles to get out of trouble, all of which are temporary. A special example was the office where all the jobless men in the story gathered, to be together and hide their unemployment from their wives. The types of dialogs among the contradicting characters was worth noting; Shahrokh, the deaf and dumb boy, is the centerpiece, who is seen in a variety of situations, from family parties to the pool where Iraj got a job as a temporary life-saver.

Come back here often, for more analytic reviews of  the films and series broadcast on ifilm.

MF/MF