Know Your Resources

The inner workings of the workplace have long been skewered in popular culture, much to the delight of us worker drones. Nearly all of us experience some level of boredom with our daily tasks or occasional frustration at the futility of our efforts. And we've pretty much all been the victims of seemingly heartless human resources executives, too. HR figures in prominently in any good office plot line, likely because the fact that there's really a complex, feeling human behind the cold face of all those policies and procedures makes for good drama. Or comedy, in the case of The Office's hapless Toby Flenderson. Or both, as in Israel's The Human Resources Manager. This film's titular character is confronted with the divide between doing business and truly caring for employees when a worker is killed during a suicide bombing, and his company is perceived as being indifferent. What follows is an exploration of empathy and humanity as the bureaucrat is dispatched to the victim's hometown. And until you find out that HR denied your raise, it'll give you hope that you're worth more to your company than the bottom line. The Human Resources Manager plays at the Modern Museum of Fort Worth, 3200 Darnell St., Friday at 6 and 8 p.m., Saturday at 5 p.m., and Sunday at noon, 2 and 4 p.m. Tickets are $8.50, $6.50 for museum members. Visit themodern.org/magnolia for more information.
May 27-29, 2011