Example Of Documentary Review Essay

The documentary “Made in Bangladesh” presents an examination of the factory collapse that led to the death of over 112 people. The documentary examines the relation of the Bangladesh production practices via retail companies such as GAP and Walmart. In the film, there is a presentation of the human rights abuses that take place in order to maintain low prices of products. In this essay, the author examines the strengths and weaknesses of the presentation in the documentary and its impact on the contemporary world.

NOTES

The documentary employs an approach of film-making that surpasses that is observed in American journalism. There is provision of a strong sense of the daily lives of factory workers that provide their services for these plants. This offers the viewer with the texture and context of the environment in which the workers in Bangladesh employ their services. The documentary relates the actual practices with previous researches and findings by scholars. For instance, there is a presentation of the corporate contemporary practices known as an “open secret” in the manufacturing industries. This demonstrates the actions of manufacturers that ignore the application of child labor and violation of company policies by the different subcontractors for their production stations.

COMPARING NOTES

The report uses corporate misbehavior to present a clear image of the different working conditions in Bangladesh. Moreover, the practices of corporations in Bangladesh are related to the global corporate practices thus providing the viewer with a holistic image of the exploitation of workers globally including the implications that victimize contractors, consumers, and corporations. In order to present evidence of the human rights violations, the documentary provides interviews, particularly with an auditor that provides an insider’s opinion on the production process that is applied by Walmart in the manufacture of their products. It is integral to acknowledge that the documentary seeks the opinion of the factory owners and the different players that are directly involved in the order. Furthermore, there was the presentation of actual visits to factories where the documentary revealed children workers, as young as the age of 12. This presents the viewer with an in-depth view of corporate exploitation through actual accounts of the corporate practices and production processes.
The article “International Emmy win for CBC's the fifth estate Made in Bangladesh documentary” presents an examination of the success factors of the documentary. The author notes the efforts placed in the production of the documentary through tracing down the workers for exclusive interviews. The article notes that the documentary blends exclusive storytelling and extensive examination to provide the viewer with an exclusive overview of the factory conditions in primary production factories in Bangladesh and internationally. Finally, the documentary is recognized as a perfect investigative piece that challenges the current conditions in the corporate scene.
The five elements of a documentary are named as interviews, cutaways, process footage, chill footage and archive. It is integral to note that the documentary “Mad in Bangladesh” incorporated most of the primary elements of a documentary that are named in the article. For instance, there was a presentation of extensive interviews and relations of the current conditions and previous conditions in the factories in Bangladesh. Finally, in the article "Michael Moore's 13 Rules for Making Documentary Films", Moore advises documentary makers to adopt a film-making approach in presentation of a documentary. This encourages the production of an active emotion through documentaries.

OWN DOCUMENTARY

The “Catastrophe across Cultures” adopts a documentary approach thus incorporating rigorous narration to the audience. Moreover, there is visual representation of the events to provide the audience with a clear image of the topic that is being discussed. It is integral to acknowledge the role of visual aids in increasing the recall of numbers and facts that are mentioned in the documentary. Michael Moor suggests the inclusion of a range of scenes that adopt an appropriate sequence to enhance understanding in the audience; however, the producer should refrain from bombarding the audience with bulk information through the incorporation of relevant information only (Jankovic, p.6).
Social research defines an activity that is conducted to research on an explanation of given social phenomena. In the production of the documentary “Catastrophe across Cultures”, there is a need to examine appropriate case studies that are bound to present a perfect relation between the various aspects that are present in different cultures and the conflicting aspects of various cultural approaches. This will relate the past and the present state of different cultures. The documentary will involve a blend of interviews, cutaways and chill footage that appeals to the audiences' emotions, particularly their active emotions.

Work Cited

Jankovic, Jovana. 'TIFF 2014: Michael Moore's 13-Point Manifesto For Documentary Filmmaking - NFB/Blog'. NFB/blog. N.p., 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2015 . <http://blog.nfb.ca/blog/2014/09/09/michael-moore-manifesto/>.
Made in Bangladesh. Dir. Lysanne Louter. Perf. Mark Kelley. 2013. Film.