The co-director of the film that won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature closed her acceptance speech Sunday night with a slogan from the Communist Manifesto.
“American Factory” portrays culture clash and business difficulties when Communist Chinese authorities buy a shuttered General Motors factory in Ohio and try to convert it into a glass factory.
Julia Reichert said during her speech that “working people have it harder and harder these days — and we believe that things will get better when workers of the world unite.”
The final lines of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ Communist Manifesto are frequently translated from the German as “Workers of the World, Unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains!”
“American Factory” was the first completed film from Higher Ground, the production company of former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle.
The Obamas were not at the ceremony, but the former president offered his congratulations via Twitter.
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“Congrats to Julia and Steven, the filmmakers behind American Factory, for telling such a complex, moving story about the very human consequences of wrenching economic change,” Mr. Obama wrote.
Congrats to Julia and Steven, the filmmakers behind American Factory, for telling such a complex, moving story about the very human consequences of wrenching economic change. Glad to see two talented and downright good people take home the Oscar for Higher Ground’s first release. https://t.co/W4AZ68iWoY
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 10, 2020
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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