Braddock America

The Great Recession has witnessed stepped-up output in at least one production line—doleful documentaries depicting the struggles of the broken, dispirited remnants of America's working class, who now appear to be permanently laid off. French filmmakers Gabriella Kellser and Jean-Loïc Portron's Braddock America is a particularly strong example, even if its bad news has been heard before elsewhere. Braddock, PA, outside Pittsburgh, was a historic steel center whose steep decline began in the early 1980s. Now, with manufacturing outsourced overseas, factories empty/razed, and even the town hospital (the last sizeable employer) closed, Braddock is a sad shadow of its former self. As the city council struggles with abandoned homes and properties (whose penniless owners simply fled), the cinema vérité lens queries remaining residents—stubborn holdouts and/or poor people with no means to go elsewhere—about the boomtown of yesteryear contrasted with today's climate of despair. Blame is directed at greedy corporate CEOs (as opposed to labor unions) who allegedly profited off "globalization," but nobody on the business side is interviewed here. A powerful timely look at contemporary financially-strapped America in microcosm, this is recommended. (C. Cassady)