Made in Bangladesh Film Difficulty Ranking: 2
Why Watch Made in Bangladesh?
- See Dhaka full of life
- Fight for worker’s rights against exploitation
- Choose marriage or work – either way the Patriarchy is unavoidable
From: Bangladesh, Asia Watch: Trailer, Vimeo, IMDb Next: American Factory, Salt of the Earth, I, Daniel Blake
A City At Work
Made in Bangladesh starts in a cramped sweatshop. There’s wires hanging from the walls, the odd fan to move the sticky hot air, and the eternal purring of the sewing machines. After the employees are forced onto the streets because of a fire, the sound of humming machinery doesn’t stop. Next door, a worker mans a nail-making machine, as another worker sprays disinfectant smoke down the street. Every scene shot in the streets shows someone working. Even at night, when the sweatshop workers are walking home after sleeping at work, there are rickshaw drivers sleeping on the street waiting for their next ride. It shows a city alive with hard working class people. They’re the people that keep the heart of the city beating, despite being often overlooked in the movies.
Worker’s rights
Although they keep the city moving, the working class are still being exploited. The sweatshop employers withhold paychecks, harass employees, and stalk the aisles making sure no one is slacking. They’re doing this whilst their employees are struggling to pay the rent. Things get worse when Shimu tries to form a union with some of her fellow employees. The employers start looking through everyone’s bags and firing any union sympathizers in a desperate attempts to stop a union forming.
However, the sweatshop employers aren’t the films only villains. In one scene, they guide some white westerners around their sweatshop. They’re here to inspect the sweatshop for their companies back at home. However, even though they note the lack of a proper fire escape, they fail to reprimand or follow up on their comment. Instead they move on to ask the sweatshop employers to cut the price of their clothing. Their appearance frames them as the villains at the top. They’re hoarding the profits from cheap labor around the world – ultimately paying each employee a trickle down monthly wage of the cost of 2 shirts for every 1,500 they make.
Marriage or A Job?
There’s not much the women in the sweatshop can do. They simply have to accept what their male employers are willing to give them. After all they’re living in a very patriarchal society. Marriage is one way to escape the tiring work, but then they could be stuck at home and forced to act according to their husband’s whims. For those looking for husbands, courting is a dangerous game as they can be quickly denounced as temptresses once the man gets bored or caught, and become outcasts among former friends and family desperate to protect their honor. Either way, women, as Shimu puts it, are “screwed if they’re married, and screwed if they’re not”.
What to Watch Next
If you’re looking for more movies which focus on workers fighting for their rights, check out Salt of the Earth, Blue Collar, and Cesar Chavez. You could also watch American Factory, a documentary with an exchange between American and Chinese workers to see how each country operates.
Or if you’re looking for more movies that feature characters trying to navigate government bureaucracy, check out I, Daniel Blake, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, and Felicite.
Lastly, for more films featuring Muslim women stuggling against the patriarchy, watch Mustang, Beauty and the Dogs, Papicha, Wadjda, and Under the Shadow.
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