Losers and winners (2006)

On one of those slouching coffee days, E talked about a documentary he'd seen on TV a while ago about the dismantling of a coke refinery in the Ruhr area (coke as in the making of steel, of course). I watched the same film on TV tonight and it really was an interesting thing to watch (OK, I might have some peculiar interests, but still). The documentary is called Losers and winners and it was made in 2006. The main focus is the interaction between the Chinese workers decomposing the refinery (which is to be shipped to China where it will be reassembled) and the Germans who have been working in the factory and who take very different stands on the project.

What was interesting about Losers and winners was its portrayal of day-to-day conflicts at a specific workplace, at which the situation of course was very animated due to the circumstances. Some of the German workers bitterly commented on the Chinese takeover. "They are like ants!" "They don't know how to rebuild the refinery!" "We've been here for a long time!" "They don't care about safety!" But different voices were heard and even though there was some harsh criticism of the working procedures of the deassembly not all of it was raised in a spirit of ressentiment. The Chinese workers, on the other hand, were not moulded into one big, anonymous mass. Instead, there were scenes with persons from upper management who were visiting the car dealer, looking for the flashiest cars, while listening to songs on the car radio with lyrics about Mao's gentle smile. For the majority of workers, the coke refinery decomposition presented no promise of economic riches for themselves. They were paid a very modest salary and some explained that this thing was just another project they got involved in with hope perhaps of doing something different in the future.

Highly recommended, sometimes subtle, film about global economies, labor and labor relations, but also about such things as "honor" in labor. It was very fascinating - more than you probably think - to watch a grand refinery being disassembled by 400 workers.