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8月21日，一部不平凡的美国电影纪录片《美国工厂》正式发行，在Netfilx和精选影院上映，并迅疾引起了广泛关注和浓厚兴趣。
这部纪录片客观呈现了不少美国人不愿意承认的事实，那就是中国工厂给日益衰败的美国“铁锈带”带来了实实在在的就业和体面的工资。
《美国工厂》更让人意想不到的是，这部电影拍摄的竟是一个中国企业家让美国工厂重生的故事。这个中国企业家是福清人，叫曹德旺。
从海报上不难看出，这部纪录片是围绕中国人展开的故事。该片今年年初在美国圣丹斯国际电影节首映后，获得一致好评，并获得纪录片单元最佳导演奖。预告片推出后，英美媒体更是大力宣推。
奥巴马夫妇谈《美国工厂》
《美国工厂》制作人对话奥巴马夫妇
Why did you pick our film? There's a million films out there.
You let people tell their own story.
I hope it sparks curiosity. Gosh, this is fun!
You guys could do whatever you want, Why did you decide to do what you're doing?
One way of looking at what we've both been doing for the last 20 years, maybe most of our career-...
most of our careers once we left law, you know, -sort of the traditional path. -was to tell stories.
We want to be in relationships with people and connect with them and work together with them.
You have to know their story, you have to know them. That is exactly waht we do.
It's like, OK, there's something going on here. Like, this big plant is about to close, looks bad for our community. Let's just not decide what the story is. Let's just go in there, find people to talk with.
We want to give voice to people who don't appear on-screen. Working people, their stories, their struggles, their hopes equally compelling to superheroes.
Those first scenes of those folks on the floor in their uniforms, that was my background, that was my father. And that was reflected in this film.
Yeah, we all have a sacred story in us, right? A story that gives us meaning and purpose and how we organize our lives.
If you know someone, if you've talked to them face-to-face, if you can forge a connection, you may not agree with them on everthing, but there's some common ground to be found, and you can move forward together.
And one of the meaning things i love about this project is that it's not an editorial. I mean, you truly... let people speak for themselves.
We wanted to make sure that if they saw the movie,they would say,"OK, yeah that is my perspective." What i was struck by was they exhibited a lot more trust than i would've expected.
Once you get that kind of trust, you don't betray it. People trust us with their story and that's a huge responsibility, but we feel so lucky. And with your help, these stories will reach the world.
A good story is a good story. If it's a documentary like yours, or if it's a scripted story that helps people understand something they didn't understand before we want to see if we can give voice to that.
And Higher Ground is a reflection of both of us, so that means that, you know, our platform is going to look a little bit like everthing. Just like the world is a little bit of everything.
We want people to be able to get outside of themselves and experience and understand the lives of somebody else, which is what a good story does. It helps all of us... feel some sort of solidarity with each other.
About American Factory
In a video posted by Netflix today, Barack and Michelle Obama chatted with the directors of American Factory, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, about the power of storytelling.
American Factory is the first in a series of Netflix programs by Higher Ground Productions, the Obamas’ new production company.
The documentary focuses on the culture clash at an Ohio manufacturing plant between transplant Chinese management and American workers.
Globalization has undoubtedly reshaped the contours of American blue-collar workers’ lives, injecting an onslaught of rising unemployment, middle-class pitfalls, and shrinking wages into the so-called American Dream. This new norm, and the fraught relationship between clashing cultures, is the backbone of American Factory, a new Netflix documentary produced by Higher Ground Productions, the Obamas’ latest endeavor.
In a conversation uploaded to Netflix’s YouTube today, Barack and Michelle Obama sat down with American Factory’s directors, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, to discuss the power of storytelling, the need to bring working-class voices out of the periphery, and the reason for their career pivot to media.
“You guys could do whatever you want,” Reichert said. “Why did you decide to do what you’re doing?”
Barack responded, “One way of looking at what we’ve both been doing for the last 20 years, maybe most of our careers [...] was to tell stories.”
Later, speaking of the documentary’s beginning sequence, Michelle said, “Those first scenes of those folks on the floor in their uniforms—that was my background. That was my father. And that was reflected in this film.”
Bognar added, “We want to give voice to people who don’t appear on-screen. Working people, their stories, their struggles, their hopes, equally compelling to superheroes.”
American Factory focuses on the resuscitation of an Ohio plant after Chinese investor Cho Tak Wong took over and reopened the shuttered manufacturing factory, which once acted as a hub of bustling blue-collar employment for the industrial town of Moraine. Community optimism for a rejuvenated local economy slowly faded as culture clashes over working conditions and demands for a union came to a boil.
In American Factory, Moraine ultimately stands in as a microcosm of diminishing prosperity for the American working class, who live in an era when companies can easily swap them out for cheaper labor and lenient labor laws elsewhere. (Between 2000 and 2017, Americans lost more than five million jobs in the manufacturing sector, although only a fourth of that loss was attributed to Chinese competition, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)
Getting viewers to understand this, among a litany of other perspectives, seems to be the mission of Higher Ground Productions.
“We want people to be able to get outside of themselves and experience and understand the lives of somebody else, which is what a good story does,” Barack said. “It helps all of us feel some sort of solidarity with each other.”
当前任美国总统奥巴马离开白宫的那一天，他一定想不到，两年后他会再次以一种新的身份——电影制片人，被人们知晓。
更让人想不到的是，这部电影拍摄的竟是一个中国企业家的故事，或者说是一个中国企业家让美国工厂重生的故事。
这个中国企业家，叫曹德旺。
他9岁上学、14岁被迫辍学，白手起家创立中国第一、世界第二汽车玻璃供应商——福耀玻璃集团。
累计捐献财富达80亿元，被称为中国首善的他，和美国前总统奥巴马为什么会产生这样的渊源？
让我们从这部电影中来找寻答案。
外媒如何评价《美国工厂》
美国《纽约时报》称该纪录片扣人心弦。
英国《卫报》发布消息：奥巴马夫妇的首部电影《美国工厂》是否会成为2019年最具影响力的纪录片？
《Variety》认为，这是今年最佳的纪录片，颠覆了人们对美国制造的印象。
《Cinema Scope》认为，这是近十年来最引人入胜的纪录片。
烂番茄推荐指数达到了95%。
《美国工厂》讲述了文化碰撞
这部纪录片讲述的是中国福耀玻璃集团在美国俄亥俄州代顿市建立工厂，让一间倒闭的工厂获得新生的故事。整个影片聚焦中美双方的文化差异和矛盾，最终双方弥合分歧并因全球化而受益。
2014年，福耀玻璃集团落户代顿市。福耀玻璃是中国第一、世界第二大汽车玻璃供应商，也是美国多家汽车巨头的供货商。而代顿市，这个曾经因汽车制造业一度兴旺发达的城市，早已因为通用汽车的搬离陷入困顿。
代顿可以说是美国“铁锈带”传统制造业衰败的一个缩影。福耀的到来，无疑给当地带来了就业机会，助力当地的经济复苏。截至2018年，福耀为当地增加了2000多个就业岗位，几乎是之前厂区——通用汽车公司的两倍。
【题外话】奥巴马对美国制造“用心良苦”，也与中国制造“渊源颇深”。2013年，时任美国总统的奥巴马在迈阿密港口发表讲话，宣传美国制造，鼓励美国人发展、使用美国制造。这时一阵风吹过，吹掉了奥巴马背后的起重机上贴着的美国国旗。国旗被吹飞后，露出原本被遮住的四个字母——ZPMC，竟然是中国企业！现场一片哗然，奥巴马更是非常尴尬。
《美国工厂》展现的中国企业本土化一波三折
当然，来美国设厂和把流失的制造业带回美国，并不能使福耀在美国一帆风顺。在给美国迅速带来经济效益的同时，文化的冲突以及各种矛盾逐渐显现出来。质疑工厂原料、员工权益保障、卫生环境是否达标、公司是否按照美式监督和标准来经营等等问题，使得这个一度帮助美国崛起的中国公司陷入僵局。
《美国工厂》导演讲述美中文化差异在哪？
《美国工厂》的导演在接受采访时说，美国工人无法理解中国工人为什么能忍受长时间的机械化劳作，不顾风险和劳累，那是因为他们不明白中国工人的生活处在上升期。和他们的父辈相比，中国工人的生活和收入在稳步提升，他们觉得未来有希望，因此能忍受繁重的劳作。
同样，中国工人无法理解美国工人为什么不开心，为什么有工作有收入还要搞工会闹事，为什么每天八小时工作，30分钟午餐时间、外加两个15分钟休息依然不满意。导演说，那是因为美国工人跌出中产阶级之后，再回到中产阶级的希望渺茫。
影片中一位女性黑人员工说，当初她在通用公司的时候，时薪29美金，孩子要双球鞋，她会毫不犹豫地买下；现在她在福耀公司，时薪14美金，再也不能像过去那样随手买鞋了。一位女性白人员工说，她被通用解雇后破产，只能在妹妹家的地下室居住。来到福耀之后，她每月花480美金薪水，租了一套小公寓。她因为有自己的独立空间而感到高兴。
当然，到美国设厂和把流失的制造业就业岗位带回美国，并不能使福耀在美国一帆风顺。文化的冲突以及各种矛盾逐渐显现出来。最终在全美汽车工人联合会和各方的支持协助下，福耀代顿工厂慢慢走入正规。
《美国工厂》此时上映 意味深长
对于奥巴马为何选择《美国工厂》作为旗下公司的第一部电影作品，奥巴马表示，它抓住了文化的碰撞，用一种人们熟悉的方式讲述在全球化面前的适应过程。
△奥巴马接受采访画面
多家美国媒体指出，这也许是对特朗普“逆全球化”政策的一次委婉反击。
影片中提到的俄亥俄州是特朗普的选举票仓。特朗普曾承诺给当地工人带来就业机会，但今年早些时候，俄亥俄州的另一家大型通用汽车工厂又关闭了。更为讽刺的是，中美贸易摩擦导致中国对美国投资骤减，像福耀玻璃这样的“美国工厂”反而成为当地为数不多的“重要生命线”。
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