Maquilapolis

In thinking about how the process affected this film, one of the most obvious ways, in my mind at least, is in it's content and tone. The women in this film are empowered leaders, teachers, and activists. Throughout the film we saw time after time in which they demonstrated how this strong and new-found sense of empowerment inspired them to take action and assert their rights as laborers, women, and human beings. The women did this in each class they led, in each meeting they scheduled, and in every day they fought for their families and themselves.

This power and strength was imbued into the film itself and the presence of the women who asserted their rights and their self-worth in the honesty of the images they presented and the tone and force with which they discussed them. The women accepted the exploitation they were made to endure as real, but they actively fought against it. The film interestingly represented this simultaneous acknowledgment of exploitation by rebellion against it in its framing and structure. Specifically coming to mind is the scene in which the women are all spinning around individually as they list off the names of the various companies for which they have worked. Coupled with the images that precede and follow this shot we come to understand the cycle of exploitation these women endure, as they literally whirl in a circle as the names of their former and current employers cover their faces.

Overall the film was captivating and richly informative as we caught a glimpse into the actively hidden denigration and oppression on which we all invariably depend.