Picket Line
2017 · 10m
Directed by Cecilia Aldarondo
Genres: documentary
Tones: contemplative, tense
One week before Donald Trump was elected, 700 workers—many of whom were Trump supporters—walked out of the Momentive chemical plant in Waterford, NY, sparking a 105-day strike. In the wake of his win, the striking workers reflect on the election and Trump's advocacy for union-busting legislation.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Everyone expects a Trump-era labor doc to land predictably—workers betrayed, vote against their interests, cue the irony—but Aldarondo refuses the sermon; she just lets contradiction breathe, which is somehow more unsettling than any thesis would be.
Aldarondo inherits the observational rigor of cinema verité while interrogating its own neutrality; the film's formal restraint—letting workers speak without editorial judgment—becomes the crucial political statement, situating itself in a lineage that trusts the viewer to sit with genuine ambivalence.
The decision to keep the camera close on faces during these reflections, catching the micro-hesitations before workers speak, does the work that heavy-handed narration never could—one pause, and suddenly you understand the psychological weight of that election moment better than any explanation.