Men At Lunch – DOC NYC – New York’s Documentary Festival

November 8th, 2012 by Mr. C

Director: Seán Ó Cualáin

Men At Lunch was a very touching documentary ode to NYC & the blue collar workers that helped build the city vertically with the rise of steel and concrete. It told the tale of a rapidly changing New York City in the early twentieth century amongst the Wall Street crisis, high unemployment rates, and with the city banks collapsing. One of the most recognizable images of all time in NYC circa 1932 is a photo with 11 ironworkers sitting on top of a steel beam suspended 57 stories high with a Canyon of Manhattan underneath them, Central Park behind them, and the hudson river in the distance while the workers were casually having lunch! This simple yet audacious image represented the celebration of the legend of the working man. The ironworker earned $1.50 an hour which was a pretty decent living at the time with one major or should we say fatal drawback – death – 2% of the workforce annually would die working on the skyscapers. These 11 nameless iron immigrant workers symbolized the fabric of the poor and working class of NYC while simultaneously elevating the common man as a superhero while they perched in the sky!. In the 1920’s, the biggest Jewish, Italian, & Irish populations in the Americas were found in the big apple and they all had something in common – growing up in the school of hard knocks! The Irish, Mohawk Indians, Germans, and the Scandinavians were known to brave the dangerous work of balancing on steel beams to build the skyscapers of Manhattan.

Along with those brave enough to work on the steel beams suspended in the canyons of NYC were the crazy anonymous photographers doing similiar circus balancing acts while documenting the ironmen! Much thanks & credit have to be given to these photographers, for they gave the workers a grandiose aura about them in a still photo that otherwise they would have not possessed while on the ground mingling with stockbrokers, athletes, artists, & women in speakeasy’s.

The director of the film – Seán Ó Cualáin attempts to demystify the anonymous 11 ironworkers in the famous photo known as – Lunch atop a Skyscraper and perhaps provide a few answers that might lead us a little bit closer in identifying 2 of the workers in the photo which leads us to a pub in Shanaglish, Ireland. Other evidence stored at the Rockefeller Center Archives and the Iron Mountain Storage facility in PA will provide further proof of authenticity in the image.

The director does a great job in celebrating the tradition of the ironworkers and their importance in creating the foundation of the skyline of NYC as we know it today. Lunch Atop a Skyscraper is a true symbol of courage and resilience of NYC and the people that call it home.

Men At Lunch screens at the DOC NYC Festival on Saturday November 10th & Wednesday November 14. Check the DOC NYC schedule for more info here.

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