Women of Brukman Film Analysis
October 6, 2015
The film “Women of Brukman” focuses on the Brukman clothing factory in 2001. This event took place when Argentina suffered an economic collapse. Due to this collapse, the factory owners and office workers abandon the factories, leaving the labourers without pay or direction. The Brukan factory was one of the many factories effected by is economic downturn. This film follows the endeavors of these abandoned workers – specifically the seamstresses – in their attempts to become independent from their previous employers and come out from under the grasp of the government. The Brukman workers attempted to overcome this obstacle by taking over and operating the Brukman factory (such as eviction, and the issue of the remaining debt left by the owners when they abandoned the factory). Throughout this film it can be seen through the worker’s actions, numerous elements which correspond to the course material. The treatment, or rather mistreatment of workers, the lack of wages and the general operation of the factory shows characteristics of concepts such as capitalism, surplus value, work exploitation, scientific management and alienation.
Capitalism is a type of economic system which is designed work in favour of the rich. Capitalism was not a system that naturally evolved, but was devised by the rich upper-class (lecture). Capitalism is the way we organize the production and distribution of goods in society today. This concept could be seen in the film when the amount of work being done did not correspond with the amount workers were being paid. Despite the long hours they worked, the workers were only paid “two pesos” (The Women of Brukman, 2007) a week. This very fact can be related back to surplus value. Surplus values, is the extra money owners make from selling their products (lecture). It comes from selling a product for more money than it takes to make it. As noted before, workers were paid very little in...