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Criticizing the corporate world for unethical conduct has become a commonplace in documentaries these past few years, from The Big One by Michael Moore to the Corporation by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbot, which won an award last year at Ecocinema in rodos, Greece. But to get a balanced opinion on this matter, we shouldn't leave so easily in the dark how some of these multinationals use their full clout to enforce a righteous behavior. That's precisely the fair spotlight offered by Ecofilms International Film and Visual Arts Festival, as the rodos annual event is now known, in screening The decent factory by
Thomas Balmes from France and Finland.
This documentary follows the efforts made by Nokia, the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer, to make sure its subcontractors comply with local labour laws in their Asian factories, as the firm sends a team led by an independant British consultant to a German plant in China .

Obviously, treating such an unusual point of view requires much skill from the director, as any hint it could be a propaganda film commissioned by Nokia would totally compromise both the film and the firm's PR (the feature turns out not to be commissioned by the manufacturer). Fortunately, Balmes cleverly and skilfully avoids this trap as he strives to present a very balanced view of the situation.

First, the filmmaker isn't excessively indulgent with Nokia which turns out to be no more lenient with itself. For instance, the Finnish managers do not hide from the ever present camera that they didn't have a clear idea of how their subcontractors really comply with local labour laws in Asia before their audit, although one of them is in charge of "corporate social responsibility" for the firm. The British independant auditor also hits in the bull's eye when one of her selling points to Nokia is that as a member of the Dow Jones Sustainable Good Index, the firm needs to give strong evidence of its moral high standard to ethical funds in order to be part of their much sought after investment basket. Moreover, in the end, a carton informs us that the Nokia manager who toured the Asian plants decided to quit as she was exhausted by her fighting "against windmills", a token of the size of the efforts still to be made, even for a decidedly decent company.

As for the manager of the German plant, he is portrayed with humanity, unlike one might have expected. He is quite transparent and friendly with the auditing team. His frequent jokes are not condescending towards his employees (even when he describes masked guards as "clowns") and he seems to be honest in trying to comply with local labour laws that he recognizes as being far less protective than those of his home country. Unexpectedly, Chinese midlevel managers seem to care less for the working conditions of their fellow citizens, as the camera catches one of them unsuspectingly asking over a phone "which" account book he should present to the auditors. An earlier segment revealed that it was a common practice in Asia to hold a double accounting of working hours in order to give the illusion that those plants comply with local laws.

The surprise also comes from the questioning style of the auditors. They never make any judgement and remain factual, although their ethical mission could have turned into some kind of police job. As for the British independant consultant, she is not presented as an unselfish white knight. In an ambiguous ending, the director presents her singing for a charity, suggesting this very professional, obviously competent and well-intentioned lady makes some good money out of a flourishing business.

To be sure, this balance of views makes the film quite convincing and far more than decent.

Olivier Delesse

Full coverage of Ecofilms 2005 on filmfestivals.com :

Ecofilms' opening stroke a sensitive chord

A decent factory tackles corporate responsibility at Ecofilms

Ecofilms also gives room to short films

Ecofilms grants a Medwet award for the second year

A spiritual angle on ecology at Ecofilms

Ecofilms presents an experimental answer to poverty in doc

Consumer society under the spotlight at Ecofilms with Czech Dream

rodos Golden Deers Awards