Two Canadian activists and film makers, Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis, document the struggle by unemployed workers in Argentina to repossess their workplaces.
They focus on workers in the Forja vehicle parts plant in Buenos Aires, who learn from other groups how to prevent administrators from stripping the factory and how to petition the court and city for the right to run the factory. In the background is the 2003 presidential election, where one of the candidates is Carlos Menem, whose government introduced globalization policies that allowed companies to strip Argentina of its finances.
Secondary threads are the seamstresses who have taken over the Brukman clothing factory and then expelled by the police, workers who manufacture tiles from a repossessed factory and an activist whose mother is a supporter of the Peronists in the presidential election. The industrialists come out of this film looking very smug and unconcerned for their workers.
It's clear that the heart of this film lies with the workers and their quest to regain their dignity and livelihood in the face of incredible resistance from the government. There's a inspiring and frightening scene when the seamstresses, middle-aged or elderly women, and their supporters, face riot police over the closure of their factory, and the mayhem that ensues when the police decide to disperse the crowd.
As a film, it tries to tackle too much in one go (the non-interview with an IMF official doesn't lead anywhere), and there isn't a single strong thread to follow.
3 out of 5 stars.
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