Men at Lunch

The old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words is validated in filmmaker Seán Ó Cualáin's documentary about a famous photo in which 11 (mostly Irish) construction workers casually eat their lunches while perched on a steel girder some 70 floors above street level during the construction of Manhattan's Rockefeller Center in 1932. According to Corbis Corporation—the world's largest repository of archival photos—it remains the most requested item in their collection. Combining detailed analysis and interviews with writers, filmmakers, a Rockefeller Center archivist, and ordinary folk, Men at Lunch contemplates what this legendary shot continues to say about the immigrant experience in the United States, the indomitable spirit of Americans in the throes of the Great Depression, the courage of ironworkers both 80 years ago and post-9/11, and the relationship of New Yorkers to their city. Although sometimes meandering—a feeling compounded by Fionnula Flanagan's hushed, almost dreamy narration—the film builds to considerable cumulative effect. And while it is not an investigative piece, the documentary does identify three daredevil photographers who shared the workers' defiance of acrophobia by joining them on the scaffolding on September 20, 1932—the image's established date. DVD extras include five bonus shorts. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)