'The Last Truck' is a straightforward account of a grim, Ohio winter; and the closing of a giant automobile factory, owned by the troubled General Motors. Such a huge plant is always going to dominate the local economy; the film follows the soon-to-be redundant workforce, as they contemplate a future world that may not be as kind to them as the one they enjoyed previously. The film makes the important point that GM's high cost base is due mainly to a pension bill, rather than through overpayment of current staff, a problem widespread in many modern economies but maybe particularly severe in America because of the absence of state-funded alternatives to corporate pension plans. What it doesn't mention is something that many outside the U.S. might assert: that fundamentally, modern American cars are rubbish. The factory in question built S.U.V.s, for which demand fell drastically when the economy fell on hard times; the likes of GM were particularly hit because they never tried to make fuel-efficient vehicles in the days when oil was cheap. Nonetheless, this is still a sympathetic portrait of the characters of the men and women who worked the line; and a grim reminder of the human costs of recession.
3 Reviews
A crucial time in the protagonists' lives
Horst_In_Translation31 July 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant" is a 41-minute television documentary from 2009, so this one has its 7th anniversary this year already. It was written and directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert back then. This film was nominated for an Oscar in the Documentary Short category and for Bognar it was the first nomination (still is today), while Reichert was nominated twice before that. It lost to a music-focused documentary. This is the story of Moraine, Ohio, when General Motors announced they would be closing their plant, which had huge consequences for the town itself, but also for the many many people who worked in the plant. I must say I myself have no connection to automobiles, the automotive industry or the United States, which makes this little film as impersonal as it gets for me, but I guess it's still not difficult to understand the people in here because they were about to lose their jobs at ages where it's extremely difficult to find a new position, especially in the sector they have been working for years, if not decades. This plant was the foundation of their financial existence. And that's the reason why I liked that the filmmakers mostly focused on the people concerned by this decision to close the plant and not on the people who decided it or on the reasons for the closure. But I also liked the approach by one man near the end who says that it could have happened way earlier and that GM was always a loyal and reliable employer to so many people, so it's also time to see the good, even it it may be difficult at that point. A lot has happened in the area since 2008, so I'd be curious to see a new documentary perhaps about how life went on for the people and how they may still have their hopes up in working again at the plant under a different employer. Or I would also be curious to see if everybody has moved on by now. As for this short documentary here, I am okay with the Oscar nomination and I give it a thumbs-up.
Tiresome
anneleigh2 March 2010
I live in Dayton, and although I have sympathy for the no-longer-employed of GM Truck & Bus, I feel this film is not Oscar worthy. Perhaps I feel that way because this film was "shoved" down our throats in the Dayton area. GM is not the only major employer to leave Dayton and this film lacked depth, in my opinion. In Dayton, one of the workers featured in the film has done her best to make it all about her, by going on several local news broadcasts and sending mass emails. Which is, I suppose, rather pathetic when you think about it. I don't know her personally, but her overt narcissism has jaded my judgment of this documentary short.
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