Synopsis
After a whole life of work at Tijuana, Rafael and Lidia are victims of injustice against their rights and dignity: Rafael learns that due to a paperwork mistake, he will not be entitled to his retire­ment pension. As for Lidia, she finds out that her employer’s will leaves the entire heirloom to the dog, and that the fortune would only be passed down to the employees should the dog die. In their own way, alone and silently, they´ll begin a battle: Rafael against a company, Lidia against a dog. Curiously, these struggles are not visible.

Program Note
Rafael and Lidia are elderly people who are facing retirement after working for a lifetime at Tijuana, an area located on the border of the United States
 and Mexico. They are living in the same city but have never met each other before. These people who have kept working diligently without any complaint
 against their employers are proletarians and laborers. Rafael is a cleaning staff of a massive multinational corporation, Philips. Lidia is a housemaid of a
 wealthy family who doesn’t do anything by themselves. Their labor is legal. Therefore, they are waiting for the day of retirement, the day they are allowed
 to not work for the others. When the day comes, Rafael dresses up, wears new shoes and asks for his pension to the company officials. Today is the day
 that he can live with his pension which he has been saving every day, the day he doesn’t have to sweep or mop for others any more. This is the day he has
 hoped for. Lidia does all the housework for the wheelchair-bound rich old lady. She even helps her dog Princess to see, hear and eat only beautiful things.
 When the owner finally dies, whe mourns deeply and holds a funeral, thanking her for the inheritance she would get. However, the capital, the employment
 would not let them go. They cannot let the work go and rest. The company which produces light bulbs that lighten up the world makes Rafael’s life dark.
 Lidia and her co-workers have to be treated much worse than the dog in this world where even a dog is treated like a princess. However, it is too harsh for
 them to accept poverty as fate. Another title for the Workers would be ‘Philips and Princess’ or ‘The Capital and the Bourgeoisie’. This film lands a quiet
 blow to the reality of Central and South America in which the fair reward or distribution of life-long labor is neglected and the gap between the rich and
 poor exacerbates. The world, where the employment is illegal even though the labor is not, is blocked by barriers. [LEE Angela]