FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
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
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