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Union Is a Reminder That Documentaries Can Be Artful As Well As Political
Stephen Maing and Brett Story’s film is a gorgeously made document of a labor battle against the behemoth that is Amazon.
The idea that a doc has to function as a utilitarian message, constantly plunking stats on screen and shaping itself into the form of a blunt argument in order to have an impact, has taken such hold that it has drained some of the life out of nonfiction filmmaking. Story’s brilliant last film, The Hottest August, was a journey in random interviews around New York City during the record-setting heat of the late summer in 2017, a wryly observational and utterly haunting pre-apocalyptic document. It includes some astonishing moments of communication, like when ALU members interrupt a mandatory union-busting meeting to offer a counterpoint to the presentation, and in doing so gradually win over a grouchy attendee who’s initially hostile to their presence.
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