Machines

This is an amazingly-short, extremely depressing movie. Very good.

This could have been many things - an explanation of garment making, an analysis of industrial relations, a review of global garment making economics, an exploration of working class relationships, a description of Indian state governance.

There is a bit of all of this in the film, but it is above all observational - the beauty of the textile designs, the dirt, mess and lack of health and safety of the factory, various industrial processes, brief interviews with various parties who generally say what one would expect. There is no commentary. It is thus impressionistic rather than fully explanatory. For a fuller analysis of a similar situation, read The Condition of the Working Class in England by Friedrich Engels.

Beautifully shot and enjoyed watched every nuanced moment. Must see

At first, the sight of young Indian men enduring dark, difficult working conditions in a textile mill might seem off-putting. The promise of this superb observational film comes from staying with it, and feeling the change of perspective as a modern consumer it might move you to experience. Being allowed to observe, through a starkly objective lens, the human need and will to keep going every day in these dark and noisy textile mills is a humbling experience. The film narrative does not need any intrusive commentary, in my opinion. It is perfectly clear in every beautifully chosen shot and sequence what you should understand, and how you might feel about how the products we consume are made.

It should be seen by everyone. A social document that records the working conditions humans endured in a part of the planet during the early 21st century.

This beautifully shot documentary gives an intimate look into the lives of these workers. Although the subject is heavy and these workers are clearly being exploited, the optimism of the factory workers was fascinating. Jain's film gives tremendous freedom to the viewer to ask their own questions and reach their own conclusions.