Former miner Tomáš Hisem had to change his job, and he went for a profession in the IT sector. (source: Filmtopia)
Being 44 years old, Tomáš Hisem spent 25 years of his life underground.
In the mine, he communicated using a few words with his colleagues. In stressful conditions he often just swore. He used to go to Baník Ostrava football matches to let off steam, singing simple and slightly vulgar fan chants.In the mine, he communicated using a few words with his colleagues. In stressful conditions he often just swore. He used to go to Baník Ostrava football matches to let off steam, singing simple and slightly vulgar fan chants.
No one ever trained him to speak in public. He is not even a natural orator, but he agreed to the A New Shift (Nová šichta) documentary about him, which, after the closure of the Paskov mines, follows his attempt to complete a retraining course and completely change his profession.
More precisely, to become a programmer.
His starting position is truly not easy and it is hard to believe that he will be able to do it.
No one is born a programmer
Becoming the programmer after a four-month course seems like fantasy. Nevertheless, in the Czech Republic, such a program was created a few years ago. The course carries the same name as the film –A New Shift.
Tomáš Hisem attends a retraining course, the film "A New Shift" shows. (source: Filmtopia)
The company Ostravsko-karvinské doly (OKD), one of the largest private employers in the country, initiated the creation of the programme at a time of a decline in coal mining in the Moravian-Silesian Region.
When the company fired several thousand people, it promised its former workers that it would take care of them.
The company offered to help them learn to write resumes and prepare for job interviews, and contacted local firms that could hire them.
The miners had several types of professions to choose from.
A New Shift (2020)
original name: Nová šichta
genre: documentary
country: Czech Republic
length: 91 minutes
director: Jindřich Andrš
premiere: Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, where it was named the best Czech documentary, people voting it the best film as well.
In 2017, about 330 miners signed up for the program. Hisem was one of four who decided to retrain as a programmer, and director Jindřich Andrš was lucky to choose him for the film.
The former miner did not give up, did not veer from his new path, went through all the program's stages, even though it turned out to be more challenging than he originally thought.
Hisem was an optimist, showing his children the company buildings where he was interviewed. Maybe your dad will work here, he told them. He moved to a larger and more beautiful flat, believing that he would be able to afford the rent.
No one is born a programmer, he told colleagues who did not believe that retraining could help them. He did his best while attending the course. He sat at a computer at home in the evenings.
You want to believe in him. You want him to succeed.
"Trained monkey"
In the film, Andrš does not bring up the responsibility of the state and large private employers when a person loses their job through no fault of their own.
He does not visit the offices as an investigative journalist and does not ask which of the offered help is actually real. He believed that it would have followed from Hisem's story, because he had been to those offices many times.
It is likely that Andrš encouraged Hisem's family relatives or former colleagues to broach the subject while having a beer.
The film's leading character Tomáš Hisem talks to journalists after his last shift in the Paskov mines. (source: Filmtopia)
While drinking beer, they criticise New Shift program. They do not like that their friend is presented in TV news reports like a trained monkey sitting at a computer, and that journalists uncritically accept the OKD's public relations.
They angrily comment on the situation, wanting journalists to ask Hisem if he really found a job. They would like to know if anyone found a job like that at all.
And their other questions are even more uncomfortable. Should you not study for five years like everyone else? Should you not speak foreign languages? And are you not too old to compete in the job market with young and predatory students who have been playing with computers since they were small?
From the mine to a TEDx conference
It always took a few minutes for Hisem to wash the soot off his face after an all-day shift. He felt that after 25 years of work in the mine, his body was already completely worn out, and the idea of rest may have driven him to find a new job.
But now he finds that working with his head is even worse. He cannot turn it off even after working hours. He still thinks about where there is a bug in his program and what he still needs to improve. Welcome to the world of new technologies and mental work.
What is happening in the film A New Shift is the clash of two worlds at all possible levels. It cannot be said that the worlds could never be intertwined, that they could not or did not want to come closer to each other.
But it will be more difficult in the future. Changes will probably be even more dynamic and it may happen that one of those worlds will lose its humanity.
It is estimated that 800 million people will lose their jobs in the next 12 years as a result of technological progress. The film is a captivating, touching and great story from the life of an ordinary person who does everything he can to avoid being one of them.
He should not be underestimated. Though it does not seem likely at all at the beginning, he is also able to speak at the TEDx conference. And even show off an excellent stand-up routine. Applause.
© Sme
