This fascinating documentary by Ulrich Franke and Michael Loeken charts the dismantling of Dortmund’s giant coking factory at Kaiserstuhl by 400 Chinese workers who plan to transport and reassemble the modern facility back home. The last remaining 30 German workers are supervising the Chinese operation, but communication between the two groups is difficult. The Germans are concerned about issues of safety and environmental protection—just the things the Chinese like to ignore. While the Chinese work 60 hours a week, the Germans are hardly present at the site for more than 8 hours at a time. Who are ultimately the winners and who the losers in this particular example of globalisation?

Spending 18 months shooting the whole process, the film-makers were able to establish a strong sense of trust with both groups. The results make for a wonderfully revealing yet sympathetic portrait of workers with different methods and beliefs whose destinies are controlled by regimes that are anything but benign.