The Nothing Men

First published on 13 Aug 2010. Updated on 16 Aug 2010.

When you take away a man's job you take away his pride. Take away a man's job but force him to show up to work anyway, and you have a recipe for disaster. New Oz flick The Nothing Men explores what happens when six workers who are soon to be made redundant have to wait out weeks with nothing to do on an empty factory floor.

Their anxious wait is inflamed when a worker from a different factory, David (David Field), is transferred to theirs. Foreman Jack (Colin Friels) suspects the interloper is a spy for the parent company. If workers break the rules or leave the factory during work hours they can be dismissed and lose their redundancy cheques.

Jack and his coworkers have been spending the time drinking beer and playing poker, both of which are against regulations, so they're considerably resentful of the new guy, who's irritatingly polite into the bargain.

The only worker who likes him is Wesley (Martin Dingle-Wall), who engages David in games of chess, but whose murky past contains a secret that will bring about a devastating series of events.

The Nothing Men is the debut feature of Mark Fitzpatrick and based on his play of the same name. It's now showing at Hoyts Broadway and Randwick Ritz (for one week only).