At a time when quality control problems are putting a new focus on Chinese exports, David Redmon's commendable documentary Mardi Gras: Made in China offers disturbing evidence of miserable conditions in China's factories. The focus here is on the plastic colored beads that are joyfully distributed during New Orleans' Mardi Gras festivities (this was shot prior to Hurricane Katrina), which are made at the Tai Kuen factory in Fuzhou, where a predominantly youthful workforce (mostly teenage girls) works up to 20 hours a day in unsanitary and unsafe conditions for the equivalent of 10 cents an hour (a pay scale routinely docked even further if the owner feels output is unsatisfactory). Redmon offers the Chinese workers a glimpse of how their products are used during Mardi Gras—generating responses that range from bemusement to confusion—while also showing footage of the Tai Kuen factory to several Mardi Gras revelers, who become visibly distressed. Although the film feels a bit stretched at 73 minutes, the hot button subject is sure to resonate with viewers and the film makes a fine complement to the similarly-themed Bullfrog Films title China Blue (VL-1/07). DVD extras include an audio commentary by director Redmon and producer Ashley Sabin, bonus footage, and additional interviews with the über-ubiquitous Noam Chomsky, among others. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)
Mardi Gras: Made in China
(2006) 73 min. DVD: $304. Carnivalesque Films. PPR. Volume 22, Issue 5
Mardi Gras: Made in China
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