Respond to these rapid questions in our The Machine quiz and we will tell you which The Machine character you are. Play it now.
“Machines,” a documentary by Rahul Jain about a textile factory in southern India where employees endure Dickensian working conditions of 12-hour days for little pay, is so deferential to current academic trends in politics and cinema aesthetics that it comes off as a little artificial and dishonest.
Its scheme’s aesthetic component is readily apparent. Jain’s camera enters the active factory and pans around it as we see the employees go about their daily jobs in the manner of classic cinéma verité. The setting, with its dark browns, grays, and greens occasionally tempered by the brighter hues of manufactured materials, has what appears to be all natural lighting, which gives the place a kind of macabre cast that at times may be surprisingly beautiful. The individuals who work here, who range in age from teenagers to middle-aged men, carry out their menial tasks of operating machinery and moving various materials with the monotonous regularity of machines.
For a while, neither the individuals we’re seeing nor the setting are described. A worker then addresses the camera. Others will do so later. (Neither the interviewer nor the camera are ever shown or heard.) The men discuss their difficult lives and the challenging circumstances of their jobs. They are provided little amenities and work 12-hour shifts. Their own food and drink must be purchased. It appears that many are underprivileged farmers who must travel great distances to work in factories. One describes spending 36 hours on a train with no place to sit and only smashed chickpeas to eat.
“Machines” is one of those style-conscious documentaries that ends up being moderately irritated for omitting to give viewers the fundamental details they will want to know about its subject. Here are several quotes from its press kit that the movie itself doesn’t make clear, for instance:
An estimated 45 million people are employed by India’s $40 billion textile and apparel sector, which is largely unregulated and inadequately regulated. In India, more than 12 million youngsters work as children, yet 95% of the factories lack on-site trade unions.
But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this The Machine quiz.
The average amount of overtime worked each week is between 70 and 80 hours, and most of it is unpaid or poorly compensated. The laborers make between $90 and $150 each month with an average daily compensation between $2 and $5.
The number of people imprisoned in forced labor is estimated in a variety of ways. According to the International Labor Organization, there are 21 million victims of forced labor worldwide, and the Global Slavery Index estimates that there are 36 million slaves worldwide, with half of them located in India.
Such knowledge is, of course, extremely pertinent to the world depicted in “Machines.” However, viewers who are interested in learning more about that society would be better served by reading relevant magazine articles or novels, materials where fashion does not censor information or shun it in the name of style puritanism.
The Machine Quiz
The film continues to interview people, and some of their comments do touch on some questions that viewers may have. We’re told that the owners frequently prevent unions, which may help achieve the aim of replacing 12-hour shifts with eight-hour days—a goal that the majority of workers appear to strongly desire. Every time a union movement develops momentum, its leaders are ultimately found out and assassinated.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this The Machine quiz.
We later meet some of the buyers and sellers of the fabrics the workers produce in the documentary. They are a different order of being than those we have been seeing, with sharp haircuts, excellent clothes, aviator sunglasses, and smartphones, and they appear unthinkingly at ease as they go about their work.
One manufacturing manager, who embodies arrogant self-righteousness, is also heard from. He claims that he now pays his employees ten times what he did when he first started out, yet it is clear that he finds them to be careless and unappreciative. He claims without providing evidence that just half of them send money home to their family. The remainder waste it on drink and tobacco.
Another detail from the press pack that is not shown in the film is: Rahul Jain, a filmmaker, spent his childhood going to a factory like this that belonged to his grandfather. He was granted unrestricted access because of his contacts when he returned to film because he knew several of the crew members.
About the quiz
The best scene in this film—one that indicates the plot of a far better film—occurs very late, when a group of workers are seen addressing the camera and, in essence, requesting to know what he intends to do with the access he has been granted. Will he take any action to assist them?
Also, you must try to play this The Machine quiz.
“Machines” would be a far richer and more illuminating movie if Jain had actually spoken to them and included his own experiences and sentiments about the subject in the documentary rather than hiding behind the privilege of the auteur. But he remains mute, leading people to believe that he will do them no more good than politicians who show in, make bogus promises, and then depart for their comfortable lifestyles.
For more personality quizzes check this: Breeding Difficulty Quiz.
