I gave it a five since it exposes the true ugly and dark underside of the clothing industry. With all but the very high end clothing produced offshore in the West, a massive industry of unregulated, nonunion dangerous sweatshops in the lowest labor cost nations produces most of our clothing. Think of that next time you buy a 100 dollar shirt and see that it was made in Vietnam probably for about $2.00 cost.
However the movie takes a hard left turn in the second half. They have the requisite video segment from a Fox News talking-head about sweatshops and how they might really serve a purpose. Then they interview Marxist economic Richard Wolf who blames the problem on not on idiot consumers or corrupt governments in producer nations, but on capitalism and calls for a new system. What new system? Socialism of course. Every useful idiot academic these days is in love with socialism.
Capitalism is not the problem. It is brain dead materialistic consumers who turned shopping from necessity into a weekly hobby and became addicted to cheap overseas products. Generations X and Y who consume like fools. Look at the ages of those waiting in line on Black Friday and in front of an Apple Store when Tim Cook announces the newest $1200 iPhone. These are all younger Americans charging in to buy the products of sweatshops. Change their minds and you solve a great part of the problem. The other issue not addressed is the fault of the governments of the producer nations. No unions, labor laws, decent wages or environmental controls. The movie implies that these governments has no power against these corporations. Sure they do. This was the situation in the US 100+ years ago and we solved it. But somehow the third world is not at fault. In this film. The Western capitalists are at fault in the logic of the producers and writers. Worth watching with a critical eye.
However the movie takes a hard left turn in the second half. They have the requisite video segment from a Fox News talking-head about sweatshops and how they might really serve a purpose. Then they interview Marxist economic Richard Wolf who blames the problem on not on idiot consumers or corrupt governments in producer nations, but on capitalism and calls for a new system. What new system? Socialism of course. Every useful idiot academic these days is in love with socialism.
Capitalism is not the problem. It is brain dead materialistic consumers who turned shopping from necessity into a weekly hobby and became addicted to cheap overseas products. Generations X and Y who consume like fools. Look at the ages of those waiting in line on Black Friday and in front of an Apple Store when Tim Cook announces the newest $1200 iPhone. These are all younger Americans charging in to buy the products of sweatshops. Change their minds and you solve a great part of the problem. The other issue not addressed is the fault of the governments of the producer nations. No unions, labor laws, decent wages or environmental controls. The movie implies that these governments has no power against these corporations. Sure they do. This was the situation in the US 100+ years ago and we solved it. But somehow the third world is not at fault. In this film. The Western capitalists are at fault in the logic of the producers and writers. Worth watching with a critical eye.