Made in Bangladesh

"Made in Bangladesh", the title, refers to the tag on our clothes that tell us where that piece of clothing was made. Fast fashion sells us cheap clothes because they are able to exploit the labor of poor women from third world countries, whose pay is so low that even the cheap prices of these clothes seem like their product is being marked up a lot to them.

Of course this movie speaks to the experiences of the garments factory workers in Bangladesh only, but I imagine the experiences of the workers in other countries who make clothes for fast fashion can't be much different. And the movie does an excellent job of showing the nuanced complexities of the scenario.

Yes, the factories are exploiting these women, but these jobs provide them with freedom for the first time in their lives. Despite this freedom, there is still so much limitations they face due to society.

The plot of the movie revolves around factory workers trying to get unionized. They face many obstacles including their factory management finding out, their families objecting, and the government officials being uncooperative. But the movie tackles so many more issues such as the problem of unemployment among men and how they have a hard time relying on their wife as primary earner, how essential it is for women to get married in order to be safe, but how at the same time their husbands can hold them back, and also just the conditions this class of workers are forced to live in.

I was thinking that this movie might be awkward because after all, it is about how to form a union, so perhaps it would feel like an instructional video. But it really didn't. I was surprised by how well it flowed, how well it built up the stakes, and how invested I could becomes in those stakes.

I think it is very important to watch for us to know what it takes for us to get easy access to our clothes. The solution for these women is not for us to boycott fast fashion, but rather to pressure corporations to commission their clothes only from factories that are compliant and treat their workers with dignity.