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Machines

MACHINES (Rahul Jain, India/Germany/Finland). 75 minutes. Rating: NNNN


This mostly observational doc plunks the camera in multiple locations inside a textile factory, where men work under horrendous conditions for the equivalent of $3 per 12-hour shift. Child labourers, touted as better at their jobs because they started younger, fall asleep at the dye vats, and everyone’s toiling in obviously toxic environments. Just the sounds of whirring, clanking machinery, expertly rendered here, would drive anyone around the bend.

The union wants shifts reduced to from 12 to 8 hours, but it’s toothless. The factory owner, who’s interviewed briefly in one of the few sequences that is not wordless, explains, while monitoring his employees on video, that people work better when they’re hungry.

A powerful portrayal of exploitation.

May 1, 9:30 pm, TIFF 4 May 3, 12:45 pm, TIFF 4 May 7, 7 pm, TIFF 3

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