Logging onto the internet is a massive gamble. The moment you open your screen, you’re given all the information you could possibly need and bombarded with content from around the world — content that doesn’t always have good intentions.
“American Sweatshop” explores the consequences of the internet and its dark side. Directed by Uta Briesewitz (“Freaks of Nature”), “American Sweatshop” follows the day-to-day life of Daisy (Lili Reinhart, “Look Both Ways”), a content moderator at the fictional social media company Paladin. Daisy’s job is to purge inappropriate content from the internet, ranging from extreme violence to pornography. After witnessing a particularly horrific video, Daisy decides to investigate its origins and seek revenge on its creators.
While the film deals with disturbing content, there is a surprisingly small amount of graphic imagery. Rather than witnessing the posts themselves, viewers see the characters’ reactions in close, personal shots. This framing positions content moderators as the “first responders of the internet” — the audience’s exposure to the posts is filtered through the characters. The moderators have to watch while the viewers are spared. This is not to say that the movie is watered down; the titles and audio of the posts paint a clear enough picture. In an interview with Deadline, Briesewitz emphasized her desire not to traumatize audiences with graphic imagery while maintaining the film’s emotion. Viewers are given the context of the video, then left to conjure the rest in their minds. The viewer becomes an active participant in the film, horrified by their own imagination rather than the images on screen.
“American Sweatshop” is at its best when focusing on its characters. Reinhart is undoubtedly the heart of the film. Viewers spend most of their time with Daisy, watching her struggle to cope with the disturbing content she watches daily. The weight of her job doesn’t disappear when she clocks out — it follows her home, straining every aspect of her life. Shots of her sitting alone in her messy apartment accentuate her isolation. She appears distant and detached, her face illuminated by the cold light of the TV screen. The somber tone is sustained throughout the movie, aided by Reinhart’s incredibly human performance. Her expressions and delivery are strikingly realistic, which makes the story even more relatable. Although audiences don’t have to witness what the characters do, they still feel the effects of each post on the characters.
The film also dedicates time to the lives of Daisy’s coworkers: Ava (Daniela Melchior, “Road House”), Bob (Joel Fry, “Paddington in Peru”) and Paul (Jeremy Ang Jones, “Havoc”). Each moderator copes with the trauma in their own way, like Bob’s angry workroom outbursts or Ava’s apathy. Paul, a newcomer to Paladin, has not yet adapted to the harsh realities of the job, serving as an audience surrogate. The depiction of these characters highlights the psychological damage content moderators face. Although their coping strategies vary, all of it is rooted in their trauma. They have all watched different videos and experienced different horrors, but they understand each other nonetheless. These moments of genuine connection and empathy are what make the film feel realistic.
Where the film falters is its vigilante side plot, in which Daisy investigates the creators behind a disturbing pornographic video titled “Nailed It.” No matter what she does, the post stays with her. The face of a mysterious man haunts her; in that video, the man watches from the sidelines as a woman is tormented with a hammer and nail. Although Daisy’s search for the mysterious man pads the runtime, the film works best as a drama. The most effective scenes focus on the team’s everyday life while dealing with the effects of the disturbing content they have to consume. Though the mystery is compelling, it also creates a disparity between the two main plotlines. This is especially present toward the film’s climax. The pacing stumbles when attempting to resolve both the workplace drama and the tense cyber thriller. Paired with the film’s ambiguous ending, the vigilante storyline doesn’t feel fully fleshed out. Briesewitz definitely could have dedicated more time to interweaving the main plots.
An exploration of the consequences of the dark side of the internet is at the core of “American Sweatshop.” The actors’ authentic performances and Briesewitz’s chilling direction underscore the trauma the online world can inflict, granting access to the darkest depths of human cruelty. Although depicted fictionally, seeing atrocities online is a common experience in the digital age. Many users have been traumatized by posts that pop up while mindlessly scrolling through their feed. By diving into the lives of content moderators, “American Sweatshop” encourages viewers to be more mindful and empathetic of others, even when behind a screen.
Summer Senior Arts Editor Morgan Sieradski can be reached at kmsier@umich.edu.
