The Unstable Object II

How does mass production operate in the early 21st century? Director Daniel Eisenberg shows there is no single answer to that question. He documents, with surgical precision, the manufacturing processes in three factories.

At the German firm Ottobock, workers produce thousands of bespoke prosthetics for individual customers. At the French glove factory Maison Fabre, meanwhile, everything breathes artisanal excellence. The luxury accessories may be made in series, but buyers still feel an unspoken connection with the glovemakers. That sense of connection is entirely absent at Realkom, a Turkish company where 800 employees have each pair of jeans in their hands for a minute at most before passing them on for the next stage of processing—to make them look even more distressed.

Eisenberg uses a method he calls “durational observation,” lengthy shots featuring each phase of the production process. As well as highlighting the organizational complexity, this unhurried approach brings to the fore the sound in the factory workshops, the interactions between employees, and the difference between labor and work.