Office Tigers (2006)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Liz Mermin

Genre:

Documentary | Comedy

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Outsourcing

Cast

Joseph Sigelman

...

Himself

Also Known As:

Kontorstigrarna (Finland: Swedish title)
Konttoritiikerit (Finland)

Runtime:

Finland:54 min (TV) (2007) | Canada:90 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Australia | Finland | UK | Denmark

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Seems to lack vision but is still quite interesting

Office Tiger is a company established in India by two New York bankers several years ago. The concept is not a new one as the firm is essentially a call centre. However the difference is that Office Tiger quickly and professionally does the work that Western companies are too busy or lack the resource (time or money) to do themselves such as PowerPoint, accountancy and general admin. In this film we get access behind the scenes of the driven and focused company.

An interesting but not altogether successful documentary. Screened as a film in some places, I saw Office Tigers broken down as a series of films over several thirty minute slots and found it reasonably interesting. I can't say more than that because although the documentary is done in the style of The Office, it actually is nowhere near as real or as insightful. It sounds strange to say that because I am comparing a fictional comedy with a documentary but really for me it was true. With Office Tigers the interest comes with seeing the reality behind the cracks of the carefully managed image that is presented by the co-CEO but even this is not that interesting – just the sort of stuff you'd expect from any other office.

This leaves us with more of an insight into the work ethic in the parts of the world currently developing economically. We see the long hours, the testing working environment and the rigorous employment selection and the pressure put on them to succeed. This is interesting for a while but is not enough to make the film/series work as a whole. It is a shame because you can see so much potential with the access but yet the producers cannot seem to make it come together in the final edit. I'm not sure why but it does feel like they did not have a clear vision for what they were trying to do and as a result the film is rather so-so.

Overall then, an interesting but not that strong a documentary. The access and subject matter opens the door for commentary and some Office-style comedy but the editing cannot bring this out and instead just seems to edit together the footage without a lot of vision. Interesting to dip into but less than it really should have been.