Tyler Virga - Maquilapolis

     When one goes to the store and buys a new television set or simply a small set of batteries, they usually never think of how they were made or how they ended up in their hands.  This documentary puts the faces to the item and opens your eyes to reveal how large corporations take advantage of lower class communities and puts them and the community at risk. One of the things that resonated with me in the film was that even though the community was both physically and metaphorically living in the shadows of the big corporations, it did not stop the small group of woman from gathering their voices and taking on the big manufacturers in order to get the benefits that they lawfully deserve.  Not only did the small group of women gather to take on the big corporations for benefits and the money that they deserve, it is also a start on gathering as a community to make the living situation as a whole cleaner and more safe.  

     One of the tactics that the film utilized to bridge the gap between them and the viewer was using the voice of the women as the leading narrative. Most documentaries use a narrator to tie the location or people to the audience but by learning about the community, living and work conditions through the women that actually live it, it makes the film that much more impactful because you hear first hand accounts from people who live it.  By hearing the various voices of the women it makes the film more real, it destroys any remaining strings of fiction or make believe land told by the monotone narrator and puts the viewer in the middle of the situation.