American Sweatshop is about the terrors of our internet age. Daisy, as a social media moderator, is constantly combing through reported videos to be the final guardian between innocent internet surfers and the videos that depict real and fake horror. Inevitably, Daisy finds one video that she cannot get out of her mind. The reality, the screams and the sounds of violence are etched into her brain. Convinced that a real innocent person was being hurt, Daisy sets out to figure out how to catch an online attacker. The lengths that she goes and her experience is very much like that of a horror movie protagonist but, here, the horror is much more psychological. As Daisy strays farther from being herself, we wonder if her pursuit is worth the cost and whether or not anything can be done to reverse the damage that the internet’s darkest side has done.
The film uses its intriguing plot to craft a film that etches itself onto your memory. With effective sound design, shot-planning and framing, Sweatshop shows how these videos disturb the people without having to subject the audience to brutal subject matter. The sound in particular is an important and well-addressed part of the video experience. We hear what Daisy and other moderators hear, helping us empathize with her mental health struggles.
American Sweatshop – Feature Film
We get the feeling that no one wants to be in this job and, despite all being in the same room, everyone is isolated. They stick to their own computer and pray that the next video isn’t the most horrific thing they have ever seen. Sweatshop shows this isolation well, thoughtfully framing characters in isolated single shots with lots of space. The film also features an interesting and well-timed soundtrack with good use of music in many scenes to increase the tension and sense of horror.
Further, Sweatshop really anchors the plot as a character study. It presents Daisy as someone who has been held back by the internet, despite it being the reason she has a job. She is constantly on her phone, relies on it for romantic connection and, when the videos she sees at work get bad, maybe all that can replace it is more videos.
American Sweatshop – Feature Film
Her desire to do more with her life is there but one thing the film fails to do in too many scenes is make her choices compelling. While the film does good job helping us understand why she is chasing this online villain, her pursuit never seems so essential that it justifies the other parts of her life she chooses to neglect. One of the most dramatic scenes involves her choice between helping a friend or pursuing the online monster. What is missing from this scene is a serious driving force and Sweatshop struggles to communicate the urgency that she feels. Her bad choices become something that disconnects us from the character instead of making us more invested in why she is doing them.
And, personally, I feel that the audience is not given enough of reality. Where Sweatshop loses me is the way that Daisy and her co-workers are depicted. While they’re shown to be avid users of the internet, they feel constantly shocked by the reality of the internet and the real world. Characters do not react in ways that feel grounded in how the internet or the world is viewed in 2025. There is an unsanctioned optimism within the characters that too quickly turns into anger and devastation. It’s an emotional arc for Daisy that does not feel consistent with how young adults tend to interact with the online world. As a result, its commentary on our modern internet feels elementary and American Sweatshop relies on this arc too much for any other part of the film to override this weak point.
American Sweatshop is available on digital & on-demand now.
