Film Review – American Sweatshop

There are awful jobs everywhere, but there’s something particularly nasty about employment as a social media content moderator. Such a gig requires staff to study reported videos, determining if these clips break site rules, leaving them open to a full day of watching human misery and extreme behavior. “American Sweatshop” examines the psychological toll of this position, taking a fictionalized look at a character who’s trying to keep herself together after witnessing a particularly haunting video, feeling the violence slowly seep into her system, preventing her from living a normal life. Director Uta Briesewitz steps carefully with the offering, creating a compelling visual odyssey for the main character, whose confusion is a key part of Matthew Nemeth’s screenplay. “American Sweatshop” isn’t always a cohesive endeavor, teasing genre turns and skating over a more direct understanding of the business, but it offers a unique overview of a mental decline, which is capably captured in Lili Reinhart’s lead performance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com