|
|
 |
|
“More impressionistic than pointedly journalistic, the disquieting movie looks with a raised eyebrow at the grass-roots creation of workaholic, robotically friendly sales workers eager to shed their national identity” (Stephen Holden, The New York Times ). A hypnotic expose of the offshore labour market, JOHN & JANE follows the outsourced American dream to South Asia, observing the lives of six young Indian call centre employees. Working numbing graveyard shifts in order to target American consumers during ideal hours (director Ashim Ahluwalia does a brilliant job of evoking the almost narcotic state induced by such a schedule), the film's subjects have diverse perspectives on their work, from (most often) wholehearted embrace of Western values and the pursuit of wealth to helpless disgust and anger. But these workers get so much more than their (meager) salary; they also undergo some eye-opening indoctrination - everything from quasi-religious services to lectures on the superiority of American society (illustrated by citing the greater variety of choice available at convenience stores). This chilling cultural colonialism is most bizarrely exemplified by Namara (a.k.a. Naomi), who adamantly claims to be “naturally blond” and speaks in an unnerving mutation of a Texas accent. A haunting and often heart-breaking glimpse of the unseen effects of the global economy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|