Netflix’s new documentary, American Factory, is an eye-opening depiction of what will be the twenty-first century’s most important culture clash.

So runs an argument known to leftist pseud and rightist hawk alike: for two hundred years at least Anglophone civilization has held the world in its grasp, imparting its ideology and the fruits of its ideology with one hand, invisible beneath a velvet glove; whilst ever being ready to throw the iron fist of its other hand, to cut down, curb or corrode competing forms of imperialism - be they Bonapartist, Mughal, Ottoman, Prussian, Qing, Japanese, Nazi, or Soviet. Setbacks and methodological adjustments - America’s late entry into World War Two, the end of the British Empire, the Vietnam War - notwithstanding, the Anglophone, staunchly pro-capitalist coalition has essentially carried all before it, and remained relatively resolute in its unity.

Now though Confucius country is on the up, its nearly 1.4 billion human beings producing $23 trillion dollars’ worth of wealth annually, which is more than the USA manages, according to the CIA. Americans don’t have to hear ‘China’ in Trump’s voice to feel threatened. Their somewhat miffed mistrust is clear to see in American Factory, as when one Chinese manager, convinced that American egos must be carefully massaged, delivers in idiomatically uncertain English the following speech to his American subordinates:

‘This is Shanghai. Shanghai is the most modern city in China. Look like Manhattan, right? It’s like Manhattan too. Yeah, this is a Hyatt Hotel. Hyatt Hotel. They have a sky pool, 55th floor. You swim in the sky. And I’m gonna share the good news for you. One of you lucky guys, you’re gonna see that city.’

Quite apart from the jarring, American Factory records also the sheer sympathetic and the hilarious in the many personal encounters that make up its subject. A visiting American manager is brought to genuine tears at a corporate event in China, so moved is he to witness the apparent good will of his hosts. The differing work habits of Chinese and American are often made to stand in ludicrous contrast, as when an American inspired by the orderliness of Chinese workers tries to instil something of their drilled discipline into his own crew, fatter, older, and visibly more despondent.

For American Factory hums with humanity, and the final product of its whirring and cog-spinning relates not to the cultural, political or geopolitical intrigue exposed throughout. No, American Factory was produced by Higher Ground Productions, founded by the Obamas and true to their attitude and that of the song that gives the company its name… “Powers keep on lyin’, while your people keep on dyin’”

The documentary ends not with gimmickry, fear- or war-mongering, but with a stark reminder of the common future soon to challenge normal working people the world over, from Shenzhen to Cincinnati.

Watch it, and you’ll see. Here’s the trailer…