Advertisement. American Factory review – a sobering documentary by the Obamas 4 / 5 stars 4 out of 5 stars. American Factory showed UAW’s effort to unionise the Fuyao Glass America factory, which failed in part because of a strong campaign by the company for workers to vote against the move. It sounds like the happiest of endings but, as Bognar and Reichert’s latest film, “American Factory,” demonstrates in an ultimately striking manner, that did not quite prove to be the case. “American Factory,” the first film from former U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s production company, captures the frustration Fuyao faced at first when its Chinese managers found that the American workers in Dayton seemed lazy and inefficient, while the workers complained about low wages, long hours and safety hazards. When the film crew goes to a Fuyao factory in China with a team of American supervisors from the FGA factory, the contrast is brought into sharp relief. Yuzhu Yang (left) trains Lori Cochran at the Fuyao Glass America factory in Dayton, Ohio, in the documentary American Factory. The saga of Fuyao Glass America, a Chinese-run company that overtook the old GM plant and rehired thousands of locals, unfolds as a fascinating tragicomedy about the incompatibility of American and Chinese industries. “American Factory” serves as a kind of sequel to that drama, revealing the strange odyssey of the company that moved in. The factory was purchased in 2014 by Cao Dewang, a Chinese billionaire who chose to reopen the plant as the US outlet for Fuyao, his automobile glass-making company.