American Factory

A documentary set in Ohio. A car plant closed in 2008 and thousands lost their jobs. Years later the same building reopens: a Chinese glass manufacturer has bought it and hiring begins. The opening is a ceremony. Local officials speak, the workers are glad to be back, and nobody knows what will happen. From there the documentary watches both sides. The American workers are on far less than the old plant paid and complain about slack safety. The Chinese managers complain that productivity is low and describe it as a matter of culture. A group of American supervisors goes to see the parent factory in China. What they find there is the turning point: long shifts, military order, a morning ceremony and a few days of leave a year. In Ohio an argument about a union begins. Management is against it and works with a consultancy; a vote is held. In the last section automation arrives. What the narrative is interested in is not the difference between two countries but that both are going the same way: the film ends on the reduction of the number of people, and that holds on both sides. The team stayed inside the plant for a long time and had close access to both sides; management accepted the camera. Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert directed. The film won the Academy Award for best documentary. Who it is for: anyone who likes documentaries about labour and industry. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a clear hero; the film makes both sides right and wrong and rescues nobody.