A Decent Factory (2004)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Thomas Balmes

Release Date:

29 June 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot Keywords:

Corporate Politics | Working Conditions | Corporation | Audition | Manufacturing

Cast

Louise Jamison	...	Herself
Hanna Kaskinen	...	Herself

Directed by
Thomas Balmes		(as Thomas Balmès)

Produced by
Kaarle Aho	....	producer
Bjoern Arvas	....	co-producer: SVT Sverige (as Björn Arvas)
Thomas Balmes	....	producer (as Thomas Balmès)
Nick Fraser	....	producer: BBC Storyville
Andrew Golding	....	co-producer: SBS-TV Australia
Mette Hoffman Meyer	....	co-producer: TV2 Danmark
Bert Janssens	....	co-producer: Humanistische Omroep
Yves Jeanneau	....	producer: France 2
Olivier Mille	....	producer
Wim van Rompaey	....	co-producer: Lichtpunt
Iikka Vehkalahti	....	producer: YLE TV2 Dokumenttiprojekti

Cinematography by
Thomas Balmes		(as Thomas Balmès)

Film Editing by
Catherine Gouze

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mervi Junkkonen	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Mervi Junkkonen	....	sound
Tuomas Klaavo	....	sound
Charles Schlumberger	....	sound mixer
Pirkko Tiitinen	....	sound

Editorial Department
Cédric Jouan	....	on-line editor (color grader) (as Cedric Jouan)

Other crew
Xiao Dong	....	translator
Timo Humaloja	....	production support: AVEK
Christine Renaud	....	accountant

Production Companies

• Making Movies Oy
• Margot Films
• Artline Films
• Yleisradio (YLE) (YLE TV2 Dokumenttiprojekti)
• France 2 (FR2)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Humanistische Omroep Stichting (in co-operation with)
• TV2 Danmark (in co-operation with)
• Sveriges Television (SVT) (in co-operation with)
• Lichtpunkt (in co-operation with)
• SBS Television (in co-operation with)
• AVEK (production support)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (production support)

Distributors

• First Run Features (2005) (USA) (theatrical)
• Icarus Films (2005) (USA) (theatrical)
• First Run/Icarus Films (2005) (USA) (all media)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Leinosen tilitoimisto  accounting

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

UK | Finland | France | Denmark | Australia

Language:

Cantonese | English | Finnish

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Espoo, Finland

Company:

Making Movies Oy

Slightly disappointing

I saw this film at the 2005 Hot Docs festival in Toronto. In this documentary, Finnish cellphone giant Nokia sends its recently hired Ethics and Environmental Specialist to China to audit one of its suppliers' factories. But instead of a manifesto on the dangers of outsourcing and globalization, we get a much smaller film about cultural differences. Well, it's not exactly that simple, either. I guess this one just didn't catch fire for me the way I thought it would. Sure, the Finns find labour law violations. But in the presence of the factory's European management, they tend to focus on small things (some chemicals are stored near the toilets) and gloss over the bigger issues (not a single employee at the factory has signed a contract). The truth is that the entire Chinese manufacturing sector operates by very different rules than the Europeans are used to. I looked forward to hearing the auditors interview the mostly-female employees of the factory, but when they do, they discover the sort of complaints made by factory workers everywhere: their superiors insult them, the cafeteria food is bad. The truth is that none of them actually complain about the low wages, or the forced overtime or mandatory deductions for food and accommodation. It seems like they are content to live in single-sex company dormitories. Things that seem to horrify the progressive Finns don't seem to faze most of the Chinese.

So, at least by focusing in so tightly on one factory, I think it's impossible to look at the bigger issues involved in globalization and the migration of jobs overseas. Many of the issues seem to involve more than just economics. There is a lot of cultural disconnection going on as well.

That's not to say I'm an apologist for unfair labour practices. There are widespread problems with almost all of China's factories, hinted at by the film. Most factories keep at least two sets of books; one to show the government and auditors like Nokia's, and one more accurate set. And the issue of government corruption is not even mentioned.

So, even though the film failed to address these issues in a larger context, it was still an enlightening visit to a place where most of the world's manufacturing will be done in the future, if it's not already being done there now.