5/08/2009

Documentary Film Of The Day: Workingman's Death...

I'm warning you right off the bat, this one is a challenge. It can be tough to watch at times. However, the photography is incredible and the places the film goes are places you have likely never seen before. The film focuses on five hellish occupations: coal mining in the Ukraine, Sulfur mining in Indonesia, livestock processing in Nigeria (very graphic), ship dismantling in Pakistan, and steel production in China. If you think you have a shitty job, this film might give you a different outlook. I probably haven't done the best job talking up this film, but it is pretty amazing. Although there is minimal dialogue (which is subtitled), it has a slight similarity in style to one of my all-time favorite films, Baraka.

You can Netflix it HERE.

3 comments:

SkylersDad said...

There are stories of the life my ancestors had being hard rock miners up in the mountains. Living in tents through the winter, swinging a sledge hammer all day while your partner turned the drill bit, then trading off, hopefully before he doesn't miss and crush your hand.

anne altman said...

nope nope nope can't watch slaughterhouse anything. and i sit in a livestock pen for 9 hours each day so you'd think it wouldn't affect me but yet...

Johnny Yen said...

Thanks for the recommendation. I've added it to the top of my Netflix queue.

I was just reading in the paper this last week about an attempt to institute an international standard for the dismantling of ships. It was great on paper, but in the end it allowed the countries involved to enforce the rules, so you can guess at the prospects of how they'll actually be enforced.