The Take
By Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein
Barner Alpa Productions/National Film Board of Canada, 2004
REVIEW BY SEAN CAIN
With the popularity of such documentaries as Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott's The Corporation and Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, "guerrilla film-making" is quickly becoming a new genre in itself.
The most recent example is The Take, an outstanding Canadian-produced documentary written by No Logo author Naomi Klein and directed by her husband, former CBC Counterspin host Avi Lewis.
The backdrop to the film is the spectacular failure of neoliberal economics in Argentina, but is the same story that could be told of a multitude of countries from the global South. Under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, Argentina's government, led by then-president Carlos Menem, privatised state assets, deregulated financial markets, cut social spending, raised interest rates to unprecedented levels and slashed wages. Not surprisingly, the incomes of the wealthy and powerful increased almost exponentially, while unemployment and poverty skyrocketed for the poor and working class, leaving the society ridden with greater inequality and public squalor. This led to a financial collapse in 2001, when even hundreds of thousands of well-to-do, middle-class Argentines lost their jobs and savings.
The documentary takes viewers into the industrial wastelands of the country, where, after the crisis, thousands of factories were abandoned and stripped of their assets by their owners. Out of desperation, some of the unemployed workers fight back, organising to re-take control of their former industries and manage them on their own, without owners or bosses. As the workers' motto proudly states: "Occupy, resist, produce!"
Klein and Lewis introduce viewers to Freddie Espinosa and his family, who have spent virtually all of their savings since Espinosa lost his job at the Forja auto parts factory. The documentary follows Espinosa and his co-workers as they attempt to salvage their factory and resume work. They are supported by, and learn from, other workers in Argentina who have successfully expropriated industries and placed them under workers' control, including those at Zanon Ceramics and the Brukman garment factories.
Klein and Lewis also cover the politics of Argentina, including a presidential election that took place during the actual filming. Seeking a political comeback, disgraced conservative Carlos Menem, blamed by most Argentines for the crisis, is challenged by a more progressive rival, Peronist Nestor Kirchner. The documentary includes a clip of a hilarious Menem TV campaign commercial, where Menem apologises for his previous economic mismanagement and then, with a straight face, attempts to display himself as a Christ-like figure seeking forgiveness from the voters of Argentina.
Unlike Michael Moore's documentary, Klein and Lewis have limited time on camera. Instead, they let the cameras roll, filming how the Forja workers confront one crisis after another. Framing a grim reality, The Take films the workers and their families as they face off against the former owner of the factory, corporate-backed politicians, the corrupt Argentine judicial system, and an appallingly violent police state. There is an alternative to global capitalism, but no-one said that creating workplace democracy was going to be easy.
As decades of labour research has shown, industries that are self-managed and controlled democratically by their workers are, under static conditions, more efficient and cost-effective than companies that possess a traditional, top-down, bureaucratic form of administration. More importantly, they also create far better working conditions for employees. Further studies have revealed that those working in democratic workplaces tend to live longer and healthier, enjoy more satisfying personal and family lives, and are more likely to engage in social activities such as volunteering, community service and politics.
Of course, we're not supposed to know this. People are trained to believe that workers are uninformed, careless and lack the capability to manage their own businesses. The irony of this myth is illustrated in the film, where the former owners who only a few years ago abandoned their businesses, including Mr Zanon of the ceramics factory, all of a sudden want them back now that many of them are operating so successfully.
A noteworthy scene is an interview with a female worker at the Brukman garment factory, who speaks of being both surprised and relieved to realise how easy it was for workers to manage the factory and undertake such duties as accounting, purchasing, sales and other financial planning — activities that were once thought to be the responsibility of educated and well-paid managers. When asked about the larger picture, she smiles and confidently declares, "Maybe we can run the entire country this way".
[Sean Cain is a freelance writer from Oakville, Ontario. For more information about The Take, visit <http://www.thetake.org>. Green Left Weekly will present a screening of The Take at 6.30pm on July 29, at Manning Clarke Theatre 5, ANU, Canberra. Phone (02) 6247 2424.]
From Green Left Weekly, July 27, 2005.
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