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A DECENT FACTORY
Directed, Produced, Written & Director of Photography by: Thomas Blamès.
Edited by: Catherine Gouze.
Released by: First Run/Icarus.
Language: English, Finnish & Chinese with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: Finland/UK/France. 79 min. Not Rated.

Going by this documentary made for European television, the Finnish-based Nokia Corporation, the world’s largest cell phone manufacturer, is nothing if not transparent - the film opens with company executives skinny-dipping. But shortly thereafter the director focuses on the matter at hand: Nokia business controller Hannah Kaskinen’s mission to balance social responsibility with profitability. Director Thomas Blamès accompanies her and Louise Jamison, a British ethics consultant, to China to investigate whether or not a German-owned parts manufacturer is complying with regulations.

What follows during an assembly plant inspection is a more specific exposé on outsourcing in the developing world than last year’s fact-filled The Corporation. Kaskinen and Jamison discover workers have no contracts and that toxic chemicals are stored right next to the drinking water; these cleaning solutions are immediately moved, but unbeknownst to the investigators, to the kitchen.

What is perhaps most telling are the fidgety movements of the managers, all of whom are male, as Jamison and Kaskinen hit on one sore spot after another, such as the complicated accounting that disguises the fact new workers earn less than the minimum wage. One executive, as his fingers twitch, asks who the documentary is for. (Not surprisingly, the company, which is not named, wants a low profile.) And overwhelming manning the assembly lines are young women, who live in company dormitories, eight to a room - room and board deducted from their pay. Although the question of accountability is left up in the air, Blamès affirms, by highlighting the myriad labor issues, that the devil is in the details. Kent Turner
June 29, 2005