In Comparison (2009)

Recommended

Germany/Austria

Feature Documentary

Original Title: Zum Vergleich

Director: Harun Farocki

Writers: Harun Farocki, Matthias Rajmann

Cinematographer: Ingo Kratisch

Starting in Burkina Faso, before moving on to India, and then Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and composed of a number of a long, static shots, Farocki’s fascinating, understated documentary examines the making, carrying, and laying of bricks across the world, which, as it moves north, illuminates the increasingly safer and more efficient nature of industrialisation, whilst noting the gradual disappearance of chatter, laughter, women, children, and eventually men, as it does so. Iain.Stott