American Factory (2019)
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American Factory Movie Review
American Factory is a 2019 documentary film directed by Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert. It’s a pretty good, though safe documentary.
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“Everybody at every level will say that we really,
really want to be safe. But safety doesn’t pay the bills“
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In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America. This is a very good story that needed to be told, and both directors did a good job with this material.
This is a relevant tale of how the two vastly different cultures can work together, but how the two ultimately do crash in ideas and ideologies. The Americans are lazier while the Chinese are more hard-working, the ones are more capitalist while the others are more communist in ideas.
And this is exactly what can and does happen throughout the United States right now, companies having to hire both Americans and foreign nations inside the same company. And the results can be both amusing and problematic.
The funniest moment in this film came when there was this huge gathering in the company, and both parties organized them very differently with wildly different performers, songs and the overall performances. The juxtaposition of their different styles was funny, but the eventual joy that was felt during that prolonged sequence was truly something special.
I liked that emotion that was otherwise rarely present in American Factory, and I really liked the direction from Bognar and Reichert. The editing and pacing could have been better as the film is clearly way too long with some quite boring moments and scenes sprinkled throughout the film’s prolonged runtime.
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It is well shot, it features some very interesting discussions and points being raised. However, it’s a safe movie in every shape or form because it simply fails and refuses to tackle this complicated subject matter more deeper and in more detail. The film is portrayed from both sides which was essential, but still the fly on the wall narrative also led to a very dispassionate, very unopinionated movie which was simply not good for a documentary feature. It winning an Oscar was a very safe, though solid choice.
American Factory offers a fascinating look into this working environment where two very different cultures are thrust together, and how the two ultimately clash in ideologies and work ethic. It’s very well directed and quite inspirational at times. But its fly on the wall narrative choice did lead to a very dispassionate, highly unopinionated movie which is odd for a documentary feature. Thus, it was a solid, but safe choice for the Oscar.
