DOC Leipzig Review: The Thing To Be Done (2025)
Slovenia might be the best or worst of both worlds, meaning the West and the Balkans. From the optimistic perspective, it is orderly as it is in the “Old Europe”, yet the lifestyle is more relaxed and closer to the Balkans. From the pessimistic one, it is as rigid as in Western and Central Europe, but also as fraudulent, corrupt and rotten as in the rest of the former Yugoslavia. Reality is, as per usual, somewhere in between, but Gramsci’s communist motto about optimism, pessimism, intelligence and will is not necessarily applicable.
With his newest documentary, The Thing to Be Done, the Croatian filmmaker Srđan Kovačević goes to Slovenia and the Workers Advocacy Office in Ljubljana to follow its founders and employees in their efforts to help workers, underemployed, retirees forced to go back to work, migrants and the disabled not to get cheated on the hard-to-navigate and volatile market. As one of the protagonists, a former worker who has become something of a union activist, Goran Zrnić, would say, while the employers use the loopholes in a negative way to exploit, extort and threaten workers, the Office uses the very same loopholes in a positive way to protect their guaranteed rights.
He is the wise man of the office and the folksy “sensei” to the clients, always ready to crack a joke or motivate them to stand up to the employers who bully them. Apart from Zrnić, the Office is occupied by another Goran, Lukić, the lawyer, and Laura Orel, the social worker, while their clients take turns visiting them, and landlines and cell phones constantly ring with new cases or updates on the existing ones. Lukić is working on the big case against the Port of Koper, the state monopolist that uses the system of outsourcing companies to cheat the employees, usually non-Slovenian citizens from other ex-Yugoslav republics, out of the money they rightfully earned. Orel is an energetic and empathetic presence, best seen when she bursts into tears after missing a police hearing for one of her clients. The Office seems like an organised chaos with paperwork scattered around and short motivational mottoes pinned to the walls instead of the outdated communist iconography. It is one of the places that could bring faith in humanity back to somebody.
Kovačević is not a stranger to the topics of work, workers’ rights and survival on the market shaped by rules that favour capitalists. His previous feature-length documentary Factory to the Workers was a long-brewing project that followed the destiny of the exceptional machine tools factory in Ivanec, Croatia, that was occupied, privatised and owned by its workers who jointly managed it. Kovečević employed the mixture of styles there, combining strict observation with the interviews with the subjects, especially with the two of the “leaders”.
This time, however, the style is more strict and observational, as Kovačević, who once again serves as his own cinematographer, tries to capture the chaotic dynamic, the scope of things and the vibe of the office. It seems that the cheated clients express more fear of the “judgement” the sharp man like Zrnić would utter than of the presence of the camera that could capture the moment of their shame for eternity. That kind of approach adds to the pacing and the sense of urgency, but also demands some improvised solutions in limited space. Kovačević uses some quick horizontal camera turns as a means of internal editing. On top of that, Klara Šovagović and Damir Čučić provide some solid editing chops, even sewing some of the archival material into the already thick fabric of the film, which works perfectly in terms of tempo-changing. The same could be said for the choice of music, varying from the Yugoslav socialist propaganda songs to the impressionist semi-parodies of them by the 80s art-rock and proto-world-music band Haustor in covers for choir.
In the end, The Thing to Be Done, which premiered at DOK Leipzig, where it also won the award of the interreligious jury, is a disturbing but motivational experience. It is one of the rare examples that remind us that the fight actually means something and that eventual triumph can bring some pride and joy.
Original title: Ono što treba činiti
Year: 2025
Runtime: 88’
Countries: Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia
Languages: Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian
Directed by: Srđan Kovačević
Written by: Srđan Kovačević
With: Goran Lukić, Laura Orel, Goran Zrnić
Cinematography by: Srđan Kovačević
Editing by: Klara Šovagović. Damir Čučić
Sound design by: Klemen Berus, Matic Berus, Samo Jurca, Julij Zornik
Colourist: Goran Todorić
Produced by: Sabina Krešić
Co-produced by: Viva Videnović, Marta Popivoda, Jelena Angelovski
Executive producer: Srđan Kovačević
Production company: Fade In
Co-production companies: Urgh, Theory at Work, Blok, RTV Slovenia, 001
Supported by: Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Film Centre of Serbia, Republic of Serbia Ministry of Culture
