If you’ve been on the internet long enough, it’s likely that you’ve had the misfortune of coming across some disturbing content—even if you only caught a quick glimpse before hastily scrolling away. You can usually report such content with the swift click of a button, but it’s rare we think about what actually happens next: the people whose job it is to review flagged content and carefully assess whether it violates the website’s terms of service without also imposing on our freedom of expression. In Uta Briesewitz’s American Sweatshop, written by Matthew Nemeth, this is the job of Daisy Moriarty (Lili Reinhart), a content moderator for a company called Paladin.
It’s no accident that the film opens to a screen of Daisy signing into her work account. This is, after all, how most us begin our days now—only we never really log off. Housed in a nondescript building, Daisy and her colleagues sit in rows staring at computer screens where they watch disturbing, violent, and pornographic content back-to-back. They are mandated to meet a quota and must watch at least 20 seconds of each video before deciding whether to keep or delete it. The standout coworkers are Daisy’s best friend Ava (Daniela Melchior), newbie Paul (Jeremy Ang Jones), and Bob (Joel Fry), who declares they’d all be better off if he burnt the place to the ground. Their uncaring boss (Christiane Paul) often reminds them of the nuances within the company policy: If a man kills a rabbit, that’s animal abuse. But if a man kills a rabbit and then eats it, that’s cooking.
Briesewitz forgoes showing the actual content they watch, instead utilising sound design and focusing on the characters’ reactions in close-up shots. We also see the odd video frame and most of the titles, which further create a picture of their experience. The camerawork is often thoughtful and creative here, but it doesn’t feel particularly engaging. Daisy’s coworkers occasionally have outbursts and adverse reactions to what they’re witnessing, and Daisy has her own when she faints after witnessing a particularly distressing video. Despite the presence of an on-site counsellor (Tim Plester), no one finds him or his advice to sit in the “tranquility room” for 9 minutes very helpful. The video in question, shown to us from a distance in the reflection of Daisy’s eyes, sets her on a destructive path as she becomes fixated on finding the person responsible—despite the fact her boss and a police officer dismiss the video as fake.
Nemeth’s screenplay explores an intriguing topic as it provides commentary on the horrors of the internet, our relationship with it, and how the truth can be manipulated. As a character-driven film, Reinhart’s strong performance aids these themes as Daisy gets to showcase the progression of her anger as she begins making more and more questionable decisions. She’s numbed out—or at least trying to be—but not completely detached. She’s an assertive and impulsive protagonist which makes the film more interesting. The dynamic between Daisy and her coworkers feels very realistic, especially in the ways their job affects them psychologically and how they process it individually. There is a feeling of camaraderie between them, both through support and jokes made at one another’s expense as a way of coping.
American Sweatshop excels at capturing how much time we spend online and spotlights how miserable it actually is. After work, Daisy heads home and spends the entire evening on her phone scrolling through videos and other content. She does it while driving, cooking, eating, brushing her teeth, and lying in bed. And she’s back at it first thing in the morning while on her way to work. It’s no wonder that she’s depressed and her number one coping strategy is to get high—even going as far as to show up high to work. Her routine feels suffocating. After witnessing her work day, you get an overwhelming sense of: how can she spend even more time looking at her phone and taking in more content? But it’s something plenty of us are doing every day. It doesn’t have to be as outright graphic or disturbing as what content moderators and first responders are seeing, but we are still exposed to masses of mainly negative information. Nemeth mirrors our world back at us and asks: why do we live like this?
Visually, American Sweatshop is let down by bland cinematography. Attempts are made to juxtapose the dull and monotonous workplace with occasionally striking cinematography in outdoor shots, but it doesn’t fully work when the former sets the tone for the entire film. It’s also caught between being a drama and a thriller, but never fully commits to either, leaving its central mystery falling short. The film has a great hook, but it struggled to hold my attention throughout, though I was brought back in with some thrilling scenes. Overall, it’s a slow burn. The ending sets up the type of life Daisy wants for herself. She would rather do something good or something bad in the world than simply do nothing but watch—something her job at Paladin has taught her well.
American Sweatshop is available on VOD/Digital from 19th September.
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