Review of American Factory (2019)
Seen in 2024.
In the years after the 2008 financial crisis, a state-backed Chinese industrialist buys an ailing automotive glass factory in Ohio, putting $500M into it. When he’s in a bad mood, he wonders if it’s really worth killing the natural world of his childhood for this. He doesn’t seem to care that some workers at one of his plants back in China spend all day sitting in piles of broken glass and picking through it without proper protection for their hands or eyes.
Nicely shot, partly in fly-on-the-wall style. Despite the culture shocks on both sides, local US managers and the new owner share one thing: Fear of union labour. Without dehumanizing anyone, the filmmakers got enough material to show how management prevents unionization: Through misinformation, firing activists, and raising wages one step up from rock bottom.