The Washington Post - 23.08.2019

THE WASHINGTON POST

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019

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20

Movies

American Factory

Factory’s story isn’t quite a straight line

BY ANN HORNADAY

P

hrases like “globalization,”

“postindustrial capital-

ism” and “cultural disloca-

tion” have a way of making

the eyes glaze over. But at their

most arcane, those ideas share a

common heart: working people

whose lives and livings are on the

line. “American Factory,” an exqui-

site documentary set at the con-

tradictory core where those forces

converge, tells a macroeconomic

story through the micro-level ex-

periences of indelible real-life

characters.

In 2008, filmmakers Julia Reich-

ert and Steven Bognar embedded at

a General Motors assembly plant in

Dayton, Ohio, where they chroni-

cled the final weeks of an employer

of more than 2,400 autoworkers.

The resulting short film, “The Last

Truck: Closing of a GM Plant,”

played like a eulogy for American

enterprise and middle class aspira-

tions, writ large and small.

Six years later, the plant re-

opened under the ownership of

Fuyao, a Chinese company that

makes automotive glass. Thanks

in large part to the trust they es-

tablished with “The Last Truck,”

Reichert and Bognar once again

gained remarkable access, not just

to a transformed physical space

but to stunningly candid profes-

sional, personal and political dy-

namics. With exceptional care and

empathy, “American Factory”

limns the hope, heartbreak and

gentle humor of a corporate exper-

iment that unfolds with initial ex-

uberance that gives way to more

than a few unresolved tensions.

What happens when an Ameri-

can labor force grounded in the

values of collective bargaining and

strong health and safety stan-

dards confronts younger col-

leagues schooled in the discipline

and punishing self-denial of Chi-

na’s command-control form of

capitalism? Viewers might as-

sume they can predict the answer,

and they might not be entirely

wrong. But to its enormous credit,

“American Factory” isn’t content

merely to stay on the surface, how-

ever appealingly simple.

Sure, there are some unsurpris-

ing vignettes, such as when Chinese

workers attend a seminar warning

them of Americans’ puppy dog-like

enthusiasm and unearned confi-

dence; or when American manag-

ers take a bemused trip to China to

learn about its rigorous, ritualized

business practices. Fanning out

across the enormous Fuyao shop

floor, Reichert, Bognar and their

team of cinematographers capture

far more subtle and affecting en-

counters, the stakes of which are

raised to excruciating levels when

quotas and quality goals aren’t met.

Demonstrating compassion for ev-

ery one of their subjects, the film-

makers leave it to the audience to

decide whether the self-sacrifice de-

manded of Chinese laborers is dan-

gerously oppressive, or merely the

new late-late-capitalist normal.

When unionization rears its inevi-

table head, who winds up being for

and against is similarly open to

question.

But evenhandedness should not

be confused with neutrality: As

filmmakers who live and work in

Dayton, Reichert and Bognar’s loy-

alties are clearly with the laborers —

American and Chinese — and the

autonomy, respect and rights they

deserve. But they extend similar

sympathy to the managers navigat-

ing tough new realities on both

sides of the ocean; nowhere is their

equanimity on fuller display than in

their portrayal of Fuyao chairman

Cao Dewang, a tough, ambitious,

admirably openhearted executive

who shares a surprising degree of

self-examination — even doubt —

as the film progresses.

Filmed with extraordinary at-

tention to environmental detail

and revealing human interac-

tions, “American Factory” is that

rare documentary that’s not only

compelling in its content but a

profound sensory pleasure, with

its themes of transparency and

reflection aptly captured by the

sparkling sheets of glass and spot-

less machinery of the Fuyao plant,

a visual backdrop echoed in the

woodwinds that dominate Chad

Cannon’s graceful musical score.

As the first movie to emerge

from Barack and Michelle

Obama’s Higher Ground produc-

tion shingle at Netflix, “American

Factory” feels like a perfect vehicle

for the company’s mission to lift

up stories from underrepresented

groups in ways that transcend un-

helpful (and inaccurate) binaries.

In claiming a small patch of work-

ing-class Ohio with such nuance

and expansiveness, “American

Factory” winds up containing

multitudes.

[email protected]

NETFLIX

Documentary about a Chinese-owned factory in Ohio gives unexpected answers Wong He, left, is shown

working with Kenny Taylor,

center, and Jarred Gibson in

the Fuyao factory in Dayton,

Ohio, in a scene from

“American Factory.” The

factory at the center of the film

was once owned by General

Motors but reopened under a

Chinese glass company.

Unrated. At Landmark’s West End

Cinema; also available via Netflix

streaming. Contains nothing

objectionable. In English and

Mandarin with subtitles.

115 minutes.