“American Factory” In the heartland with Chairman Mao (Cao)

Just watched “American Factory” on Netflix, and wanted to make a few observations about it. It’s the Oscar winning documentary produced with the help of the Obamas (“Higher Ground”) and made by documentary filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar (Participant.)

What makes the film compelling is that two cultures come together to try to create something new and different. The Chinese company Fuyao Industrial Glass Company takes over the old General Motors plant in Dayton Ohio.

Complications ensue.

Not at all like the Ron Howard directed film “Gung Ho” which starred Michael Douglas Keaton and was about the conflicts when a Japanese company took over a car plant. (I had written a script “Bases Loaded” about the same topic which was pitched and passed by Ron’s company prior to their making the same basic film a year later. But I digress.) Both films deal with the culture clash over the “Asian” workplace versus “The American workplace.”

What makes the film “American Factory” so compelling (and tragic) is the irony that is written large over the film but is not addressed. There’s an interview with the…