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Pelicula

Labour Pains

Optimism gives way to frustration and resentment when an American motor plant passes into the hands of a Chinese billionaire

December 23, 2008. Sound of tyres pressing over a highway precedes the visuals. The camera pans on to the managing head of a motor addressing a motley crowd of teary-eyed workers. It is not hard to guess that it is the end of the road for them, that the light has gone out of their lives with their jobs and security gone.

“I don’t have anything,” says a black American factory worker. “We lost our home and we lost our vehicle… I have struggled to get back to middle class again.”

When a General Motors plant closed down in Ohio, it took away over 10,000 local jobs. Two years later, when a Chinese investor took over the company both hope and jobs surged for over 2000 blue-collar workers. But not for long as cultures clashed with, often, disastrous results. The American resentment at having to conform to Chinese work norms steeped in compliance and strict regimentation is palpable. There is a scene, for instance, in which a windscreen slips off the hands of a Chinese worker. He turns around to look at his American counterpart exclaiming, “There must be flaws if the glass exploded…”

American workers realize, to their dismay, that things like lunch breaks and safety measures are a thing of the past. The Chinese, on their part, are overheard saying, “We keep training them over and over…” 

Resistance to unions and unionism is another point of contention. There is a major diplomatic incident when the Democrat state senator refers to the advantages of having a union in place. It is only a matter of time that euphoria gives way to resentment and anger, all very aptly captured in the film.

Directors of the much acclaimed documentary American Factory Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert followed the story for three years, both in the US and China. What happens when an “American factory” is supplanted with a Chinese work environment is sensitively explained. The beauty of this film is the way it empathizes with both cultures without taking sides. As Bogart admitted during a television interview, “We tried to make the film so… you are both in the shoes of the Chinese and… the Americans…”

It is no wonder that Cinemascope wrote that American Factory is “one of the most fascinating American documentaries released this decade.” The documentary won several awards and nominations including the Oscar and Bafta.

Definitely a must watch.

By: Nazar Dehalvi