Since the great financial crisis of 2008, the small and medium-sized enterprises of north-eastern Italy, long held up as a model for their ability to adapt to economic change, have ceased to be the 'locomotive' of the national economy. The human side of this phenomenon, which has affected Italian public opinion and the foreign media, has been lethal: the number of entrepreneurs who have taken their own lives has reached over 300.—Federico Massa, Raffaele Pizzatti Sertorelli
Since the great financial crisis of 2008, the small and medium-sized enterprises of north-eastern Italy, long held up as a model for their ability to adapt to economic change, have ceased to be the 'locomotive' of the national economy. The human side of this phenomenon, which has affected Italian public opinion and the foreign media, has been lethal: the number of entrepreneurs who have taken their own lives has reached over 300.
The idea that a man working hard can realise his dream of making both his company and his family's welfare grow, also guaranteeing it for his employees, is a founding principle of the social fabric of Veneto.The documentary recounts the human evolution of two entrepreneurs: Loris, owner of a small artisan company founded by his grandfather, and Ugo, managing director of a company dedicated to large-scale works, inherited from his father with 12 employees, and made to grow to 80 today.
Two men who experienced their company's crisis as a loss of identity and, crushed by the weight of shame and guilt over the disintegration of their family, contemplated suicide. So much so that they turned to the hotline set up to avert extreme gestures.Years later Loris and Ugo were reborn and found a new balance. Ugo has created a business network in which entrepreneurs support and help each other, while Loris helps his brother to become a famous singer. Both have continued to follow their dreams and still dedicate themselves with great passion to their activities because, right or wrong, 'the job is me'.
