Machines

There are bursts and rattles, crunches and hisses, smoke and burbles. Heavy long arms and metal joints grind and groan. We are sneaking through the aisles of a gigantic textile factory in the Indian state of Gujarat, where the machines run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Daylight barely penetrates this peculiar cosmos, which has hardly changed since the 1960s. The people employed here, be they industrious and lively, exhausted and dazed or completely stoic, work in 12-hour shifts. The wage they receive offers barely enough to survive. Director Rahul Jain guides us through this unseen realm with breathtaking imagery and offers a visceral and shocking view of a textile industry that can afford to ignore the human factor. Succinct statements by the factory’s workers provide the film’s structure. Hit of this year's Sundance competition, this is a cinematic spectacle that offers much food for thought.