Death By China (2012)

Absolutely the worst movie.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

I'm still baffled to understand why Mr Sheen would lend his name and voice to this loaded pile of horse dung. This work doesn't hold water! For one thing, it's author doesn't understand that our trade with China is essential to our growth and prosperity as a nation. For another, this works sole purpose is to justify Donald Trump's reason for his trade war with China. It's a gamble that will harm our nation in the long run! If we don't trade with them, then who's going to make his ties?

This documentary is so one-sided that it is unbelievable. The discovery of toxic lead-covered toys and defective products did happen and they were called back. I am sure many American products were guilty of similar public outrage at some point or another, such as contaminated eggs, milk, and poorly designed cars that resulted in deaths to name a few. It is also hard to see China as the sole perpetrator when American multinational corporations were also accused of pouring money into the Chinese government to persuade them to turn a blind eye on factory and environmental regulations. I believe that corrupt Chinese officials and the American multinational corporations are equally responsible. Wealthy men in power are playing number games at our expense. It's all about power.

I am glad that a film like "Death By China" was made, although I sometimes disagree with the film in how they present the problems with the HUGE Chinese trade imbalance. While I think it's a huge problem that practically no one is talking about in the West, the film only makes a partially convincing argument. But at least it acknowledges that there is a problem.This documentary is narrated by Martin Sheen and is apparently based on a book by the same name. It contends that since China was admitted to the World Trade Organization, unintended negative consequences have occurred. US industries have either gone out of business or relocated abroad, technology has been stolen and China's civil rights abuses continue--all while they fund a massive military buildup. All this is undeniably true and the country has used some unfair tactics to keep this imbalance going (such as government subsidies to industries which, in turn, force their rivals out of business as well as manipulation of the Yuan). And, interestingly, reviews that hated this film completely ignored all of this--particularly the human rights violations. All of this should concern us and is fair game for the film.On the other hand, sometimes a bit of the film seemed like hyperbole (such as complaints about baby cribs being recalled--recalls of baby products have been occurring very regularly long before Chinese cribs came to America; the same can be said about the false Alar scare). Also the film is quick to spot problems but offers little in the way of solutions--though they are quite right that we in the West are to blame since we are living well beyond our means. Finally, I wonder who bankrolled this film--as it seemed to have an agenda (particularly in its choice of some of the interviewees). Although China is predatory in its practices and is not a particularly nice nation in which to practice free speech, the problem is not this simple and is actually very complex. Americans choose these products, government officials do nothing to reverse unfair trade practices, unions push more for higher wages and are at the same time unwilling to make concessions and corporations are greedy and only care about profits. So, in effect, it's everyone's fault--something this film didn't quite seem willing to say. A very sobering and interesting film but one that seemed a bit disingenuous in addressing the total picture. Still worth seeing, however.

The documentary "Death by China" (2012) based upon Peter Navarro's book by the same title offers interesting insights into the disparity in trade between the United States and the Peoples' Republic of China (Communist China). Narrated by Martin Sheen, the film presents statistical information in conjunction with interviews with business leaders and scholars to trace the history of growing trade disparities between the USA and China in a propaganda-style format. The documentary places the blame for the loss of massive numbers of manufacturing sector jobs in the United States during the past two decades squarely upon the government of Communist China and, recently, also upon allegedly collusive large multinational corporations which formerly maintained a specifically American nexus. Since President Clinton announced China's admission into the World Trade Organization (the WTO) near the end of his second term in office, a significant trade imbalance developed which now threatens the survival of many important manufacturing sectors in the United States.Although "Death by China" functions as propaganda in the sense that it draws a connection between the loss of many manufacturing jobs in the United States and ongoing blatant trade violations by the government of China, it does not overlook several additional social and political issues which ought to concern citizens of both the United States and China. The documentary specifically takes issue with Chinese governmental policies-- not with the people of either nation.Peripheral topics include: pervasive industrial pollution problems in China threatening the health and well being of the Chinese population, exploitative and corrupt Chinese labor practices, efforts by China to censor foreign companies, currency manipulations by the Chinese Communist regime, safety concerns about some consumer products manufactured in China and a reported significant buildup of the Chinese military following the establishment of peaceful trading relations with the USA. However, the bulk of the film addresses the diminished manufacturing capacity of the United States. Since economic imbalances sometimes represent a forerunner to significant geopolitical changes, people might want to pay attention to this unsettling documentary even if they do maintain a skeptical attitude about the trade disparity issue. The documentary begs a hard question: Did China's government join the WTO during the Clinton Administration in order to benefit the Chinese economy by engaging in fair trade or in order to initiate a form of economic warfare?