X
- 2019
- TV-14
- Netflix
- 1 h 50 m
- 2019
- TV-14
- Netflix
- 1 h 50 m
Summary In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.
Directed By: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
- 2019
- TV-14
- Netflix
- 1 h 50 m
- 2019
- TV-14
- Netflix
- 1 h 50 m
American Factory
7.6
Where to Watch
Summary In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.
Directed By: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
86
96% Positive
22 Reviews
22 Reviews
4% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
86
96% Positive
22 Reviews
22 Reviews
4% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It’s a great, expansive, deeply humanist work, angry but empathetic to its core. It gestures toward the end of the working world we know — and to the rise of the machines.
By telling their stories, entertainingly and persuasively, Bognar and Reichert make the case that they all deserve better.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 54 User Ratings
7.6
80% Positive
43 Ratings
43 Ratings
19% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
2% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 54 User Ratings
7.6
80% Positive
43 Ratings
43 Ratings
19% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
2% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
This is a horrifying movie. The American workers dropped 70% pay from their previous job which was 2 years prior. The Chinese call them weak because they work less than 12 hours a day and have more than 1 day off every month. No safety. This is the future, and it looks horrifying. Like the Borg assimilating. The mass wedding at the company Christmas party was super disturbing.
Report
This is a remarkable film! Unlike many of the citizen critics here, I actually saw this movie, and I saw it at Sundance upon its release. It was just released on Netflix so those who claim to have seen it yet were not in Utah last January in a tiny, freezing cold building at the Sundance screening room (it was not part of the fancy Park City Festival) are basically lying about what they know about the film. It is a very balanced documentary that draws no conclusions regarding the right or wrong side of the opposing cultures yet highlights the complex nature of trying to blend the two. It is absolutely fascinating. BTW the score was written by a local Mormon, BYU graduate. So those citizen reviewers claiming liberal bias again are showing little knowledge of the actual film.
Report
The movie, which bowed to uniformly rave reviews at Sundance earlier this year, is also — it will probably be noted ad nauseum — the first film collaboration from Barack and Michelle Obama’s new production company Higher Ground. But the heart and soul of American Factory, like all American factories, is never really politics of course; it’s people.
American Factory sets out to chart what’s supposed to be a test run for the future of the auto industry and an example of positive international relations. It ends up capturing a cross-cultural car wreck in slow motion.
American Factory is anything but a dry documentary, and will likely be a prime contender in awards season.
That nobody becomes a realized character with an emotional arc is just a place American Factory falls a little flat.
A cause and effect documentary about how a Chinese CEO rescue from abandon a factory, giving new chances of job for the employees, but the clash of cultures has it's consequences. Easy to follow, with no dull moments, it´s a shall to see.
Report
I started watching this documentary without having high expectations, but I was surprised to find it is very well made, with view points from both sides, without telling you what to think.
I just tells you a story about people and their lives and lets you make an opinion.
Report
A bittersweet story of modern globalism and its shifting centers of power. Probably an interesting insight into reasons for the rise of Trumpism.
Report
This Netflix documentary about a Chinese glass company opening a factory in a US town whose main factory shut its doors years ago was fascinating, if not particularly compelling. I have a very hard time believing the Chinese business culture that was portrayed in this movie. When Fuyao (the Chinese company) was shown training 200 workers how to deal with Americans, the sweeping stereotypes and generalizations these training directors would use seemed ridiculous to me. I would have liked to see a Chinese culture expert of some sort brought in to speak on that and other cultural differences shown in this doc that came off so one-sided. What this doc boils down to is a cultural difference in the way workers perceive employment. Do you live to work? Or work to live? That is the core of this story. Throw in a thread about unionization and a tag at the end about automation, and you probably have a good idea of how this one goes. The story of this factory out of water is incredibly intriguing. My only gripes are with how seemingly one-sided the portrayal of the Chinese is and how the issue of automation is just tagged on in the last 5 minutes.
Report
Watching a documentary like this one is very discouraging when you see how maybe all of us workers are in bubble of stability, especially when now the big companies just want you to work more and more hours, they want you to work faster and and they want you to do this for less pay.
It's **** up.
I must say that now after seeing it, I'm surprised it won the Oscar as best documentary.
Report
Production Company
Higher Ground Productions,
Participant
Release Date Aug 21, 2019
Duration 1 h 50 m
Rating TV-14
Genres
Tagline Cultures collide. Hope survives.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US
• 2 Wins & 5 Nominations
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards
• 2 Wins & 4 Nominations
