China Blue (2005) User Reviews

You'll feel more comfortable if you don't wear your Levis to watch this film . . .

[Chris_Docker · 9/10 · 18 September 2006]

When the balance of global power shifts, changing the world as we know it, it can be hard to fully reconstruct the historical realities. Today, the emergence of powerful industrial economies in countries that can become superpowers is barely understood. In 2005, The Economist newspaper ran an article entitled, 'How China runs the World Economy', and has recently acknowledged that China's GDP will overtake the USA within 40 years. The exact mechanism is shown in stark terms in China Blue, a mechanism with which the West cannot compete. But this is not a political film, it is a documentary chronicling one woman's struggle in a society very alien to our own.

The scene that sticks in my mind, and brings tears to my eyes just remembering it, is 16-yr old Jasmine and a goldfish. She has worked a 20hr shift, her pay is late, she won't be able to use the three days off a year she gets to visit her family because she can't afford the train fare. If she falls asleep on the job she can get fined two days' wages. The girls joke about staying awake and sometimes use clothes pegs to hold their eyes open. They feel lucky to have the job. Left alone at New Year, Jasmine gazes at this goldfish, the only thing in her world onto which she can project her pent up feelings of love and frustration, and says, "You are so lucky, you can sleep any time." Even sleep, the most basic of pleasures we take for granted, is mostly denied her.

Now before you get up in arms and want to boycott Chinese goods, check out the reality. It has been widely documented that in countries where they put the squeeze on factories to follow human rights, buyers simply go elsewhere, the original factories close, and kids like Jasmine, some as young as thirteen, turn to begging and prostitution. Same happens if Western companies like Nike put effective pressure on the third world factories to satisfy customers that their goods have been made to 'ethical standards.' So what happens - and what we see in the film - is a hypocritical game-play in which buyers and sellers are complicit. Workers are rehearsed on what to say when inspectors come, security guards make duplicate clock cards to show the workers did normal shifts with proper breaks, and everyone goes away 'happy'. Watching the charade, we feel a mounting sense of frustration. Jasmine also knows there is nothing that can be done. Her best 'hope' is that the person wearing the denim jeans she has worked all night to make really appreciates what has gone into them, and her feeling is not of bitterness, but of love, just hoping someone, somewhere, cares - that's all. She earns the equivalent of six cents an hour. That's before deductions for food and board.

Jasmine is, by Chinese worker standards, quite lucky. An Amnesty International representative, in the Q & A after the screening I went to, explained that at any one time there are several million Chinese undergoing 're-education through labour' which is a punishment handed out fairly lightly and means the government has a workforce at zero labour cost if push comes to shove.

One of Jasmine's fellow workers has managed to climb the ladder to a position where she gets a few hours off in the evening. She uses it to wait for her boyfriend in a neighbouring factory. He is under the same regime of non-voluntary overtime and often doesn't show, but she is content. "It's hard to find someone to love who treats you right," she says.

From a global point of view, China is simply going through what the West did years ago. Our Industrial Revolution only involved one third of the world's population: the rest are now catching up, and things will never be the same. Trying to halt China's growth (through protectionist measures) would be a disaster not only for the Chinese workers but it would close off a powerful source of future global prosperity.

Only with the end credits do we see how much harassment the filmmakers had from the authorities. Amnesty explained that a major crime in China is 'splittism,' which means anything that might be divisive of Chinese philosophy (and also explains why the peace-loving Falun Gong are targetted). Next time you put your made-in-China denims on, pause to remember the backbreaking toil that went into them.

Do you know the real cost of your jeans?

[YNOT_at_the_Movies · 26 March 2006]

So, how much you paid for your last pair of jeans? And do we ever think about how much the workers get paid for making these jeans if there is a label saying "Made in China?" This documentary "China Blue" brings us inside a jeans factory in Guangdong, China. The surprising great level of access to these workers and the factory owner give us a chilling first hand look at what the label "Made in China" really means. The film follows a 16-years old girl Jasmine who began to work in the Lifeng Factory to make jeans for foreign countries like USA and UK, and for companies like Wal-Mart. She lives in a dorm room in the factory (not for free) with another 11 workers. Some of these workers are as young as 14 years old (with a fake ID to come to work). She kept a diary to express how much she misses her family and how horrible the working condition is. Sometimes, they have to work 16 hours (even over 20 hours one time) without overtime pay. They only get paid about $50 to $60 a month after all these long hours of working. And this is still better than going back to countryside villages where they will make even less. It makes me furious when I see the factory owner drives his Mercedes to fancy restaurants to meet foreign customers, while he delays paying the workers after more than a month's work.

It's a really depressing film to watch and it makes me feel guilty to buy any clothes with "Made in China" on it in the future. But without the trade, Jasmine and her co-workers will make less and working even longer hours in the field as farmers. I feel hopeless and I am torn.

Although the film is quite effective, somehow I get the impression that Jasmine is staged for the documentary. After worked for 16 some hours, how could she still have the urge to write her diary under the dim light, while all the others are sleeping? It looks like she is doing that for the camera crews in the dorm room to get a beautiful close-up shot. How come they never interviewed any male worker?

Engaging documentary of Chinese factory life

[hrabinowitz · 9/10 · 21 January 2007]

"China Blue" is an engrossing documentary that tells the story of 3 teenage girls who leave their rural homes in China to come work for a factory that makes blue jeans.

The movie also presents at some length a portrait of the factory owner, and draws him as a sympathetic character (though not entirely). The factory owner believed that he ran an excellent factory and had nothing to hide--he gave the documentary makers extensive access to the factory and to the workers. In fact it was only the Chinese government that hassled Peled--their rule is that all foreign journalists must have a government minder, and any filming without government approval is illegal. Big chunks of the film were lost as a result.

Peled said in discussion afterward that the moral of the film is not "don't buy Chinese jeans". He said that conditions would be similar in any factory in Sri Lanka, El Salvador, or the Mariana Islands. In fact, conditions in the factory of the film are said to be relatively good. Nonetheless, the workers (mostly teenage girls) work 7 days a week, often getting only 2 or 4 hours sleep. They are paid irregularly, when it suits the owner, and the costs of the dormitory and kitchen (and "fines") are deducted from their pay.

Their wages average 6 cents an hour. The factory owner sells the jeans for $4.20 (or $4.10) each. Of that, $1 is labor cost, the cost of about 25 peoples' labor for one hour. The owner claims to make only 20 cents profit on a pair of jeans. The documentary asserts that the big name brands push costs to be so low that they know that the factories cannot be paying minimum wage, but they look the other way regarding proof of factory conditions. Walmart, for example, allows factories 3 reports of non-compliance with basic humanitarian rules before it will consider going elsewhere. And there are consultants who specialize in teaching factories how to fake their inspections. It's cheaper than paying decent wages.

The documentary is not a crude polemic. It lets the girls speak in their own voices, relying on a charmingly written diary by the main character, Jasmine, which is read in a voice-over. The film shows the girls in their daily routine, 8 of them sharing a room and a toilet, brushing their teeth and getting ready for work at the same time. Although I've read much about globalization, this film brought home the reality of its results in the lives of the girl workers, who marvel at the huge girth of the jeans they are making and wonder what kind of people must be wearing them. The conditions are both shocking and matter-of-fact in the way everyone takes them for granted. I highly recommend this movie.

Actually....

[macandcheesie · 10/10 · 28 May 2009]

The movie was shown at our school just two Thursdays ago, May 14th, to kick off the Southwest Labor Studies Association's 35th Annual Conference with this year's theme revolving around the Labor's Role at the Grassroots Level. The director, Micha Peled, was there to watch it with us and to discuss it afterwords. The clip that you saw at Columbia University was about a girl in a sweat shop making clothes, yes, but her name was not Jasmine. Here's the thing, Micha Peled would send clips back to the use for editing during his first unlicensed filming in China. Him and his crew were finishing up the making of this film "a couple of years ago" and went to this girl's house (I think her name meant Little Fish) to finish up the final scenes, but they were caught by the Chinese police and all of their film was confiscated and his crew was thrown in jail. Therefore, they had to start from scratch, in a whole new factory, with different characters, dodging and ducking police even more so than before. This non-fictional documentary is incredibly eye opening and gives faces to the trials and tribulations of the Chinese sweat shop workers. You should feel ridiculous for not doing your research.

excellent documentary of Chinese textile workers

[gilpatric10 · 10/10 · 13 October 2005]

I saw this documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival 2005. This is an excellent documentary portraying the lives of textile workers in China. It puts a human face on the workers who make the blue jeans we wear (hence the name "China Blue"), and makes us stop and think about the products we consume.

As a teacher, I think this documentary would work well in enlightening students on the topics of international worker exploitation and the global reach of capitalism. It brings home the ideas that our Western consumer practices actually touch the lives of individual workers in sweat shops around the world. Since the factory workers are primarily teenage girls, a student audience should easily identify with their needs and desires, hopes and dreams, and frustrations and hardships.

Very well done.

[sadonovan-1 · 10/10 · 2 April 2006]

What I loved most about this movie was the diversity and balance of its coverage -- from the issues of globalization, labor laws, and the impacts of rampant consumerism to the colors and flavors of Chinese culture, family issues, relationships, and the ups and downs of life. This is a very rare glimpse into the lives of young women working in a jeans making factory. The filmmaker does an excellent job conveying their exhaustion and the pressure to keep up with production. The viewer can feel their pain. Through it, one sees the need to improve labor conditions not only in China, but in other parts of the world where such demands on workers are unfair and inhumane. It definitely makes one think about where their jeans came from, and where we're going in a world that allows such wonderful young women to work under such horrible circumstances.

China Blue is not a real documentary

[sabrinasgordon · 1/10 · 16 June 2007]

Initially, when I saw China Blue, I was impressed with the filmmaker's access to the factory and the young girls who worked there. I was terribly moved by the plight of these young women and I still am but for a very different reason. When I had the chance to meet with the director, Micha Peled, at this year's INPUT, an int'l public TV conference, in Lugano, where he showcased Chinca Blue, I learned that he staged many of the scenes and wrote the script for the subtitles. In fact, I understand there are subtle nuances with some of the Chinese spoken by the character, Jasmine, and if you listen very carefully, at times, the voices are also slightly different. Lastly, I learned that the girls were paid a pittance, not for their time, but to act out their stories. That is why if you inquire about the girls' whereabouts in this day, the answer is that contact was lost with them. How do I know all of this? Well, the filmmaker was quite proud and he bragged of his deception. If anything, I would be interested in the expose of this documentary and maybe this director's previous films -- that is where the true story lies -- no pun intended.

Everyone needs to see China Blue

[ssilanee · 30 January 2007]

I watched the screening of China Blue and this film changed my life.

I am by no means a person who does not keep up with the world and its issues, and I am still in shock by my ignorance of the working conditions in third world countries.

According to Micha, this movie did not even reflect the worst and I am disgusted by the inhumanity that backs these factories. Young, innocent women being taking advantage of because they don't know better.

There is absolutely no excuse for this, and somebody needs to put a stop to it. Because the corporations profit from this cheap labor, it is our responsibility, as consumers, to speak up. Afterall, corporations are driven by money, and the money relies on the consumer's purchases.

I have done some research on what organizations exist that are trying to regulate these working conditions. Unfortunately, it is not easy to have a voice, but I am very interested in getting involved with this issue.

Again, it is solely China Blue that is driving me to make a change. If more people would watch this movie, perhaps they would want to take initiative as well.

great documentary

[twoutopias · 10/10 · 31 March 2006]

I saw this movie at a private screening organized by the producer. It doesn't stint on the complexity of the causes for the really long hours worked by Chinese factory workers. In one amazing scene, we see the factory owner negotiating with an English buyer. The buyer threatens to take his order elsewhere if the owner doesn't come down on price. I came away from this film thinking that complaining about "sweatshop" conditions in Chinese factories is simplistic. That's not what I thought before seeing this film. I also liked the long sweep of the story of one of the factory workers--from village to Shenzhen--and the detailed view of factory life in the dormitories of the workers. The movie makers got great access; they must have spent a lot of time on it.

A true eye-opener and a must-see for everyone!

[godyvdb · 10/10 · 28 September 2006]

This movie is about a jeans factory in Shaxi (China) where long days of hard work, little sleep and heartbreaking living circumstances are normal.

The story unfolds around a little 16 year old Chinese girl called Jasmine. She moves from the countryside to the big city to go and work in the fairly new jeans factory of Mr. Guo Xi Lam(factory owner). Even though Mr. Guo Xi Lam seems to love to see his employee's happy and working in a nice environment with good benefits but because of the harsh western retail trade this seems rather impossible.

You get to see everything from the working environment, the employee meals, their sleeping flats, how they live, how they work, how the management works, how they interact with their personnel, how people get paid(or not) etc. Working shifts up to 20 hours, a maximum of 2 toilet breaks, 1 lunch/dinner break and a salary of only $6ct per hour seem unreal compared to our western standards but unfortunately they aren't...

Although the film crew had a hard time filming this entire documentary due to intervention of the Chinese police and the country's tight control over foreign media they succeeded in making it. This movie is a real eye-opener for the entire western world, allowing everyone to know how that €100 pants we're made and what the factory-personnel sees from that large sum of money. If you still have the ability to go and watch this movie in the cinema's I would really recommend doing so. Or otherwise go rent/buy the DVD which will be in a store near you around November 2006.

re China Blue

[goddessfan · 9/10 · 20 January 2007]

This is extraordinary movie we all must see about what we close our eyes and ears to - the exploitation of people for our consumer products. Very well made and a real breakthrough in documentary. Micha the director and his assistant Song Chen went to great difficulties to make this movie. Not easy to do this in China. Very raw story and its not a story - its Truth. We can do something by contacting manufacturers of denim jeans who participate in the exploitation by ignoring it. The movie is not about China or about the young women its about the dangers and disasters that impact consumerism done without thinking with ignorance

goddessfan

Authentic: Makes Personal What We Only Knew As a Concept

[gf1701 · 10/10 · 12 October 2006]

I've read about the exploitation of workers in third-world countries, but could not really relate to the reality. This film brings that home. Not only do we get to know and care about some of the workers and what they experience, but we also get to know the factory owner quite well. His attitude towards his workers is completely disconnected from the reality of their lives. And his is one of the better factories in China. I saw this film at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and the filmmaker spoke and answered questions after the film. I have to wonder about the agenda of the people in this forum who attacked the integrity of the filmmaker. He was completely open about how the film was made; the need to replace his original main subject with Jasmine; the fact that the narrator's voice was not Jasmine's (but the words are hers). The film was NOT scripted. Although the subject was grim, the workers still make you smile at times, as they somehow retain their humanity amidst their degrading conditions.

China Blue is real, not staged - and took 4 years to film

[editor-118 · 9/10 · 2 November 2006]

China Blue is one of the most interesting, intelligent documentaries I've ever seen. It sets itself apart from other documentaries in how closely attached we become to the workers the filmmakers chose to concentrate on in the film. We get to see away from the factory floor and even to the countryside where they immigrated from. I've spent hours speaking with assistant producer Song Chen, the Taiwanese-American who speaks Chinese and who did so much of the work to gain the impossible access to the factory workers, even filming in their dorm rooms. This film would have only taken 2 to 3 years to film IF one of the two main people in the factory didn't quit and disappear. An incredible tragedy on the surface, in fact, to all of those who fell in love with the new worker, the delay and re-filming was one of the things that allowed the director and Song go far more deeply into the reality of the situation than they normally would have been able to. I don't know how engaging the original girl would have been, but the two girls who ended up taking part in the filming (and who were NOT paid, but told to cooperate by the factory owner, who thought the movie was being made about HIM) were simply wonderful. Part of what makes the film fascinating was how things 'accidentally' worked out in the favor of the documentary. The factory putting off paying them until they called a mini- protest/revolt and won... all caught on film by chance... The unbelievers would have you believe that the workers might not have behaved that way if there wasn't a camera. The workers thought the camera was off. Song was shooting that scene, put the camera down to her side, and purposely failed to turn the camera off. That was one of the greatest moments in the film. That and the forbidden scenes of the birthday party in the country that helped attach the viewers to the wonderful characters and their families. Ironically, what made this film great is exactly what the naysayers hold against it.... in fact, it is SO GOOD, that it seems just too good to be true. It's IMPOSSIBLE to have gotten all the scenes they got.... impossible of course, unless they spent 4 years of their lives filming and editing this film! The very few incredulous viewers' logic supposing a fake documentary is flawed. If the director wanted to stage a fake documentary, he could have done it in a few days or weeks. With virtually 4 FULL YEARS involved in the different stages of the filming and editing of this movie, the director and his assistant producer created what is close to one of the most perfect documentaries, and truest ever made. The one sour note in all of this is that when PBS airs this on April 3, it will be a much shorter documentary. They will edit out 1/3 of the movie; some of the most interesting scenes of Chinese country life that attached viewers so closely to the people in the film. It will be a simpler documentary, just about the factory conditions in China. This film is important and a must see.

Fake

[girlpuny · 1/10 · 24 August 2006]

I am surprised that a "documentary" like China Blue can pass as a documentary and actually get funding (and then play on PBS). It is obvious that so many scenes in this fabricated and set up film are contrived, forged, and faked. The filmmaker Micha Peled ought to feel ridicule for telling the characters what to do and what to say. Furthermore, I watched a previous cut of this film a few years ago at Columbia University. What I noticed is that the story is the same, but one character is different: Jasmine has replaced a previous character, yet the script and narration is the same. What this means is that Peled extracted the dialogue from the original character (who was fired from the factory and he therefore lost his main subject), but imposed her dialogue on the new character named Jasmine. If Peled wanted to convey his ideological point of view, then he should have made a fictional film (and in many ways he did). His film lowers the standards of documentary film and also puts China's unfair labor abuses into a positive light because no one will trust him or his film. Therefore his film is dangerous to workers and activists who are trying everyday to organize. Instead, Peled paints a fake portrait. The editing is also contrived and made to seem like a strike happens. His film has so many flaws that I'm surprised none of the festival organizers have seen through it's obvious fabricated scenes. Don't trust this film, but still know that workers are exploited. A better title for this film is Contrived in China. Good luck, Peled, with your reputation as a documentary filmmaker.

if you watch one film about china this year make it this one

[nickhornby · 10/10 · 2 October 2006]

This is not the usual rant about China's sweat shop factories, Peled's film is much more powerful than that. By focusing on a narrow cast of characters we get to know and love his protagonists, young girls from the provinces forced to travel to find work but also fascinated by the glamour of city life. Instead of the usual pat liberalism, the film goes on to show how even the bosses are also caught up in a cycle of exploitation that ends ultimately with the foreign buyers insisting on ludicrously low prices. Funny, moving and intelligent: the film shows you how we can get such unbelievable deals and why China has become the workshop of the world.

A masterpiece of political documentary making.

An amazing, insightful and profoundly moving film.

[karild · 10/10 · 13 March 2007]

CHINA BLUE, which examines the harsh reality of mass production of blue jeans in China's garment factories - jeans that are ultimately sold in America - is an amazing, insightful and profoundly moving film. It follows some of the young girls who find their way to the factories to get menial, slave labor jobs, then struggle to survive in the terribly harsh conditions that would be criminal in this country.

The use of something very close to a dramatic structure, more typical of feature films, which weaves seamlessly with the documentary exploration, creates a new approach that tells the story with amazing power and involves the viewer completely. The surprise ending was so human, so unexpected, and so filled with hope. I kept thinking that someone or something might come to rescue the factory girls as a result. My mind constructed various possible scenarios of what might happen, but the truth is that the film itself may be what saves them, by bringing their plight to the attention of Western consumers who, it is hoped, will be outraged by the indentured servitude forced upon these young girls, and be unable to ignore the fact that their clothing purchases contribute to such misery and injustice.

Shot over a 3-year period, often with an undercover camera smuggled into the Chinese factory, the terrible slave labor conditions endured by a small army of teenage girls is revealed. Through an accident of birth these young workers were born into abject poverty in rural Chinese villages. To try for a chance at a better life and to be able to send a little money back home to their starving families, they make the long and arduous journey to the factory towns, where they work under impossible conditions for a few cents an hour. If they had been born in America they would be attending school, listening to music, partying with their friends, attending sports events, thinking about their hair, makeup and boyfriends - just being normal teenage girls. But as Chinese factory workers with not even enough time to sleep well between excruciatingly long shifts, their lives are an endless drudgery and their teen years are stolen from them.

When evaluating a film I want to see how long it stays with me, and this film and the situation that these young girls live in, with no chance of escape, has stayed with me ever since I saw it. I just can't get them out of my head. Their youth is being stolen from them and they are forced into a brutal and inhuman system that rejects their rights and their humanity. Hopefully the spotlight that CHINA BLUE shines on these injustices will lead to real changes.

There is plenty of blame to go around for this outrage. In addition to the manufacturers who out-source the clothing production to China and call for ever-lower prices and ever faster delivery, the big stores who retail these jeans are guilty too. If only the labels and the retailers in the western world who contract with the Chinese factories would insist on dealing solely with factories that guarantee fair pay and humane working conditions, this form of slavery would be eliminated in short order. All they would have to do is be just a tiny bit less greedy, and give up just a little of their considerable profit.

-- Review by Karil Daniels

Micha X. Peled - Producer/Director/Camera

Song Chen - Associate Producer/Translation Supervisor/Sound/Hidden Camera

Blue Powerhouse

[eytanshaham · 10/10 · 7 January 2007]

China Blue brings us what a powerhouse reality is all about. Think about the jeans you are wearing and how much effort, sweat and lack of sleep went into making it. How many times have you thought about that? So for people who say that they will not buy Chinese made Jeans as this industry weakens American made Jeans (if any left) or exploits people then think about the benefits (as little as they may be) the people that put effort into making this Jeans get. What can we say? this is the world that we are living at regardless of which country it is. It is the nature of growing economies - people have to make choices and sometimes do not have choices to make, are being exploited, working around the clock so the future generations will fair better. Sounds familiar? This is where our grand-parents and sometimes great-uncles and aunties had to go through to get us the kind of life we now take for granted in the western society will live in.

Micha Peled manages to convey the story about the people behind this economic power in a fascinating way. It is told mostly from the view point of a girl, 16 years old factory worker Jasmine. But from my point of view, everyone, even the factory manager gets to be humane. On one hand the tension the managers go through of whether they'll succeed in delivering the goods and the impact it has on all the workers, and on the other hand the grim sacrifice Jasmine had to make in order for her sister to get a better education, one which has been denied from her. We witness that similar sacrifices by most of the workers.

However, this is the price of modernity and in essence it can not be avoided. After all, quite a few factories in China went bankrupt as they were not able to compete. But, like Nike sweatshops in Indonesia we have to voice our concerns about the working conditions of the people who make the products we consume. Not to stop this powerhouse but to provide the right support for workers rights. After all, without these kind of jobs they would fair much worse.

Anecdote - the girl's goldfish that "can choose when to sleep", unlike the girl. The goldfish is a symbol of prosperity (in the ancient times common people were not allowed to own it).

Watched the movie on Australia's SBS.

China Blue - Documentary

[gucci-7 · 10/10 · 26 July 2006]

Danish TV has tonight shown the prize winning documentary CHINA BLUE. I was shocked even though all of us know the little texture MADE IN CHINA.. It is just not human behavior to make these teenage girls and boys work under such conditions and the manager does not even appreciate one single worker - for him it is a question only about money.. Unfortunately we know that this particular jeans factory is far from an exception but who will not be influenced in some way on some level by this story.. It should not be humans in this world who managed such slavery in these times. The manager at the factory is to my understanding a former police chief, how can he not care about human rights and decent treatment and human circumstances for his employees...

A must see film

[robbyell · 10/10 · 14 November 2006]

I watched China Blue with mixed emotions of anger,sadness,despair and even some guilt.Its a film that every Western consumer must see.Its gives a great insight into the sweatshops and the harsh lives of the young sweatshops workers that make our goods.Some of the workers(or slaves)would be classed as children in our society.It's a hard piece of viewing but I think it must be viewed by anyone that wears clothes.I couldn't get Little Jasmine(the main focus of the film)out of my head for days after viewing.She and her co-workers work around the clock to meet deadlines for Western company's and often don't get paid.They are treated like trash by management and often made wear pegs on there eyes to keep them awake.It brings home the point of capitalism's over production in one part of our world and extreme poverty in the other.The film makers done an excellent job in exposing this kind of human cruelty.

this is not a true documentary

[chrisfellaton · 1/10 · 1 October 2006]

I agree with Susan Jackson. This documentary is worse than reality TV with its scripted story. It exploits unknowing young girls as much as the factory owner and these girls aren't even pursuing fame whereas the participants of reality TV are. I wonder how much these girls got paid and I am sure they did. If you listen to Jasmine carefully, you will note that her voice changes subtly. I have heard from my Asian friends, who can speak the language, even claim that she speaks in different dialects from time to time. I think the funders, such as Sundance, should really examine the projects more carefully. It certainly makes me weary. I will not see another documentary from this director again. I wish Smoking Gun would do an expose on this film, but then again, it may bring the people involved with this horrible project more publicity and you know how there is no such thing as bad PR.

A powerful work of art

[gubbay · 10/10 · 4 February 2007]

This movie was so powerful and revealing,it would be a great injustice not to watch it. The movie does a great job of trying to find truth in the lives of these young factory workers. I always knew what was going on there in the back of my head, but now I feel I understand it. It is the filmmaker's job to keep you interested and make sure you come out with a real experience. This movie does this perfectly. Walking out of an early screening of this film, I just "let it all go" crying after the film. It was extremely moving. If you get the opportunity to watch this film, I would suggest wasting no time. It didn't seem forced, pushed, or biased, like some documentary movies, etc. It had an intense genuine natured motif to draw from. As a social worker and arts activist, I commend the film-maker on creating something so touching and real with such a masterful portrait of the experience in the lives of all these characters.

A Real Eye Opener!

[mbelton-2 · 10/10 · 11 August 2006]

We witness their struggle through their eyes. It is like a prison for them, These factories sponsored by those wearing their products in the West. i.e. Levis Jeans i.e. us. An average worker earns less than US$60 a month for a work day consisting of nearly 17 hours in some cases with no overtime. These workers are mostly young villagers from poor families who come to the cities to work in the factories so they can send money home to their families. The film leaves the audience with some loaded questions: How can we boycott the companies and all those associated with this gross exploitation of basic human rights. And can we put on our Levis again with a clear conscience. Better check where it's made first. This has to be one of the best documentaries of all 2006 and it is as well made as it is revealing. I congratulate the producers on risking being caught filming, when it is forbidden in china for foreign media to film in China, and bringing much needed clarity on this issue to western audiences. After all who are those big tall people?

Poignant revelation of contemporary exploitation.

[volcfilm · 9/10 · 3 October 2006]

The extraordinary patience and perseverance of Micha Peled, against much Chinese obstruction, rewards us with appalling insights to the world of cheap labour exploitation in China. The near slavery of the young garment workers shames our own cushy lives and reveals the darkest side of international trade. No one should buy a pair of cheap fashion jeans ever again without knowing what China Blue reveals went into making them for the price.

See the film and understand the ruthless modern world. Raise your voice if you can for workers rights in China. (Check out 'Labour behind the Label'). Above all remember that many people have suffered to provide you and me with a bargain.

John Dollar

A brilliant undercover documentary

[gracie28 · 9/10 · 10 December 2006]

The crew for this film basically worked undercover in China for years to get this film. The Chinese government thought they were tourists. The factory manager thought it was a puff piece about his entrepreneurial brilliance, when instead the film was documenting the lives of the workers, one girl in particular. We saw this at the Full Frame Festival and had a chance to hear the director explain the hurdles they had to overcome including getting some equipment confiscated on one occasion. But they have managed to produce one of the most eye opening and educational films we have seen in years. Anyone who wears blue jeans should see this film. Anyone who has doubts about globalization should see the film. A masterwork.

Labour conditions in the Chinese industry

[eabakkum · 9/10 · 4 May 2011]

The film China Blue is a pleasant surprise, and a masterpiece. I hesitated to buy the DVD, since I dislike the idea of an American film about Chinese living conditions. However, the creator Micha X. Peled has done an excellent job and placed himself into the Joris Ivens school of documentary production, together with illustrious colleagues like Barbara Kopple. In fact Joris Ivens himself had a crush for Asia, and made early documentaries about labor conditions in Vietnam and China. The film China Blue describes the labor conditions in the Chinese jeans factory Lifeng (hence its name). The working conditions are poor, and comparable to the life of western industries in the immediate postwar period (the resemblance with the fictional films Norma Rae or Raices de Sangre is striking). This raises the obvious question why the CEO mister Lam allowed the film production. Mr. Lam is a former chief of police, and so we may assume that he dislikes the violation of rules in general, and of labor contracts in particular. However, since the competition is extremely fierce, and the western buyers tend to exploit the situation, the Chinese management has no other choice than to pass the exploitation to their personnel. So I guess that China Blue is actually the silent protest of mister Lam. It seems that the hindrance experienced by Peled came especially from government officials. The main characters are the twelve seamstresses, in their early teens, who share a dormitory in the factory. We follow their daily lives, and although there must have been some acting, it all looks authentic. There is the love story of Orchid, the poetry of Yasmin, dancing, evenings out and shopping. Basically they lead the lives that we know from our parents and grandparents. The industry aims at mass production, with long and boring working days (in Raices de Sangre a seamstress stitches her finger, indicating that the profession has some risks). The seamstresses originate from the countryside, and lack the experience with the industrial discipline and time schedules. In addition they suffer from the separation from their families, and the end of childhood. Errors are disciplined by means of wage fines, an antiquated system, although in the case of youths it may be difficult to think of an alternative. The labor conditions are worsened by the trucking system, due to in-house meals and accommodation. The accommodation brings back reminiscences of youth hostels and military service, without room for privacy (although privacy may not yet be the primary need for teenagers). In fact these images give the film multiple layers, since it shows how capitalism breeds socialism. The industrial mass production implies the accumulation and equation of their workers. In this sense the film is more an accusation against the western buyer-ups and his consumers, than an attack on Chinese working conditions. In the Netherlands the film has even been used on educational projects for fair trade. Actually the impression of the film was so strong, that during the following night in a dream I found myself working in the factory. One of my colleagues made a clandestine use of my electric shaver, without cleaning it afterwards. Here is the dilemma of socialism for you. On the other hand, capitalism is notorious for environmental pollution etc. Perhaps it is all a question of living together. In conclusion I prefer China Blue over more illustrious Chinese films like To Live or Still Life, and give it a warm recommendation. If you like films like these (Kopple, Ivens, and realistic fiction), you might consider seeing my other reviews.