There is a decades-long history of African residents in Guangzhou, China, most of whom came to the city for business. The city houses scores of wholesale markets where businesspeople can purchase bulk items to ship back to their home countries for retail. Director Marie Voigneir's documentary NA China explores this world through the eyes of a few businesswomen primarily from Cameroon.
Except for a brief opening interview, the film takes an unobtrusive, observational approach to its subjects. There is little to no exposition or background information provided, leaving the audience to try to catch up as the camera follows these women throughout their workdays.
With a runtime of over an hour, the film grows tedious in the absence of a cohesive narrative. NA China is less a crafted story and more an anthropological record. Given that it was commissioned by the Guangdong Times Museum, perhaps that is indeed its purpose. The focus is exclusively on showing the day-to-day process of the women's business ventures without any interference. Were this a documentary short, this observational approach would have been much more effective. At 71 minutes, many of the scenes drag on for too long, losing their impact. It's difficult to remain invested while watching people pack a shipping crate for over five minutes straight.
Something about the simplistic filming style and sparse production coupled with the lack of an emotional center gives the documentary a detached feel. The most engaging moments are in the snippets of contextual information about the history and experience of community members that come from conversations between workers, but these moments are few and far between.
Anyone curious about the lives of community members beyond their work will have to look elsewhere for illumination. The value of NA China is in the documenting of an overlooked community, but as a film, it does little to pull in the average viewer who does not already have a vested interest in or prior knowledge of the topic. Optional. Aud: C, P.