Mardi Gras: Made in China

The movie exposes some ugly corners in manufacturing world in China, hiring young girls to work in sweatshop conditions on low wages. This exposes the harsh reality of China- a third world developing country. The country has the world largest population of 3.1 Billion, has it ever occurred to anybody how each and every one of the people get fed and housed and maybe provided glimpses of hope of getting out of dire poverty situation? How come there are so many people outside China got so upset with China over their one-child policy? ( I certainly understand that family planning should not be something that government sticks their noses in and it is government wrongdoing in that practice )-- The harsh reality is: the population was simply exploding and families couldn't afford to feed all. Can you imagine what the people was wearing and eating late 70's? What the movie shows is one sea side area ( with probably no forms of industry )in Fujian province, how come nobody picks up what the father was saying over and over again: if my daughter does not work in this factory, she will be working in another factory...I'll probably send her outside ( of the country ) to...make money, if you have money you can build factory, you 'll be rich... It all sounds too familiar like a dream/nightmare for a bottom-feeder penniless nameless young man becomes rich and fast. How real is that in today's world? I'm sorry, but it seems to me that in his eye, she is like a money -making machine. Some kind of father/parent. (But don't mistake that all fathers in China are like that. As a matter of fact, it's a ...regional thing. )If you ever read reports or visited families in Missisippi river area, you'll know for some reaosn quite some families do not hold similar values over education like you and me. Sorry I strayed, back to the movie now. In the interview that the crew followed her to her hometown where they met with her family, her nephew said she quit high school, others all silenced him. So she didn't like school, or she didn't do well in school, so what? She deserves food and shelter and a job, right? Sounds good, but who's going to provide that? What about the other 9999 high school graduates in the district? Well, let me put it this way, in China, education is about the only way for a future of any kind of decent ( professional, well-paying,busy, hard-working, reqarding and fulfilling) living. But doesn't it go like that in all over the world? Try to land and hold on a job like that in America! What goes around comes around. Come to think of it, in this world, Far East and Western, a lot of things are quite similar and different at core level. While this movie is a provocative movie that exposed some ugly corners in the manufacture end and consumer end of the business chain, the images created mixed messages. This is a consumer world among all other descriptors we can use for our endearing Earth home for all mankind,like it or not, think of it like this: when you produce, you do your best; when you consume, you try to have fun. The value on each end are measured by different components! The both ends are just not , in real world, lined up like that as shown in the movie unless you are trying to send some message. Say, a teacher in a low-performing district , when he/she does the job, does he/she think of the 60% of his students who have no hope of graduation at all, or probably end up in some low life indecent doings? Can we trace it backwards like this: well, since 60% of the students are not going too far in life, the job of the teacher just holds no or low value, it should just be trashed like those trinkets in New Orleans... Back to the movie: Let me ask this question: where do you think the girls are going in life? I do think they or any human being deserves decent working condition and fair wages, don't get me wrong, the job does give her a way out as pointed in the movie. I am pleased to see that recycled beads are sent as "care package" to soldiers in Iraq. Is the movie about wastefull bizarre lifestyle and recycling beads, or fighting for decent wages for the girls in factories? My conclussion is that David wants to take upon something LOUD, but I think he made a poor choice in this as an movie artist. Someone may be very upset that poor China ( or rich ...)is the largest debtor of Uncel Sam...it's so condusing to many! It's not China's problem, the problem is with economic chain itself. China is just a game player like Uncle Sam in the global market. Watch out, here comes China.

Sharp, well-made documentary focusing on Mardi Gras beads. I have always liked this approach to film-making - communicate ideas about a larger, more complex, and often inscrutable phenomenon by breaking the issue down into something familiar and close to home.

I am sure most people have heard stories about sweatshops and understand the basic motives behind profit and capitalism, and globalism's effect on poorer nations (however people feel about it). Rather than expound on these subjects and get up on a soapbox (not that there's anything wrong with that, other than such documentaries typically preach to the converted), this documentary simply shows Mardi Gras beads, how they are manufactured, by what people, and under what conditions, and then how they are utilized by consumers at the end of the process. It openly and starkly investigates the motivations of everyone involved in the process, including workers, factory management, American importers, and finally, the consumer at the end of the chain.

I felt a little sickened by this; equally by the Mardi Gras revelers, but also by the way the workers in China have accepted their situation as normal and par for the course (even if they have some objections to the details of how they are managed). The footage of the street sweepers cleaning up the beads off the streets at the end, made a particular impression. But that was just my reaction; I can see how someone else might read this documentary a little differently.

Unlike other documentaries on this subject, I don't think you have to have any specific political opinion to be affected by this. This is ultimately a story about human beings and our relation to the goods we produce and consume. If you have ever bought a product made in the Far East, this should give you something to think about.

Outstanding and highly recommended. Need to see more documentaries like this. Kudos to all of those involved in the making of this film.

The film exposes the blatant exploitation of the Chinese worker - generally female - garnering footage from the Chinese business owner who shares his unashamed and delusional viewpoint, his American counterpart also as unashamed and delusional, the oppressed workers who are given a voice and, of course, the drunken Americans who wear the beaded necklaces mindlessly celebrating in New Orleans.

The glimmer of hope comes when some Americans are actually outraged that people making their beaded necklaces were getting paid like $0.10 per hour to do so. You also have a feeling that the workers may have a chance to escape working in the bead factory, but will probably do so when they get fed up with the punishment treatment popular with the factory owner and/or they just get too exhausted to work up to 20 hours a day of hard labor.

I have wondered where those necklaces came from, not realizing how completely grueling and arduous it would be to make them. I just truly appreciated this film as it beautifully portrays the impact American indulgence has over something we consider relatively innocuous in our society on peoples on the other side of the world. Honorable mention goes to Wal-Mart. It is simply amazing. And clearly, just the tip of the iceberg!

Excellent film that reveals how people are connected to the taken for granted, ordinary beads exchanged during Mardi Gras. The film is much more than a commentary on globalization. In fact, it humanizes the workers in China, the owner of the factory, the bead distributor in New Orleans, and even the revelers in New Orleans. What stands out the most is the director's ability to tell a tricky story with complicated details in such a simple and seductive way. His amazing access to the factory is another aspect that's intriguing and I only wish I knew how he got inside. It's a beautiful story without sentimentality or guilt associated with it, and the conclusion provides hope without leaving people feeling alienated.

In this documentary we meet Roger, the rich manager of a factory in China that makes beads and other trinkets sold and traded at Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Roger claims the factory girls love their work and are grateful for the opportunities it provides, but interviews with four of them tell quite another story. The girls' bleak lives are shown in stark contrast to the bizarre excesses of Mardi Gras itself. Filmmaker David Redmon should be lauded for getting excellent and rare footage of everyday life inside a Chinese factory compound, and for landing a revealing on-camera interview with the head of the U.S. company that imports and sells the beads. The movie is compellingly told and clearly serves its purpose as a window into what lies behind those ubiquitous "Made in China" labels.