Cinequest Review: Outsourced
Outsourced was my favorite of the five Cinequest movies I saw this year. This was a truly charming and hilarious romantic comedy that totally nailed both the romance *and* the comedy (whereas the mainstream Hollywood studios rarely seem to get one out of two right these days). The film involves an American middle manager who is sent to India when his entire Seattle call center is outsourced. His mission: to train his replacement, and bring the new call center up to company standards. Unlike many fish-out-of-water comedies, this one never felt cruel, the characters displayed actual intelligence, and both cultures were made up of actual human beings rather than stereotypes.
But aside from the humor, witty dialogue, and well-done romance, the film also manages to sneak in a very powerful and positive message, without hitting you over the head with it. That message: even with all the fears and bullshit that exist in a globalized economy, at the individual level we all have the opportunity to connect with and learn from each other, if we choose to take it. No matter how much our various cultures may differ (in amusing and confusing ways), we all still have much more in common as human beings than we have differences. Given that many factions in the US seem to be increasingly hostile towards immigrants and foreigners these days, this film could not come at a better time (and I hope it receives a wide audience). It correctly portrays the "bad guys" as: not the Indian workers who take American jobs, but rather the corporate executives who willfully ship those jobs overseas to boost the almighty profit margin. And even those guys are basically just doing their jobs and aren't really portrayed as "bad" (which doesn't mean that it isn't funny to watch bad things happen to them). At the end of the film nobody feels like a "loser", even those who have lost their jobs. This movie reminds us that it is sometimes possible for things to change drastically in ways that seem scary, and yet for people to learn and grow as a result, and just maybe end up better than they started.
But aside from the humor, witty dialogue, and well-done romance, the film also manages to sneak in a very powerful and positive message, without hitting you over the head with it. That message: even with all the fears and bullshit that exist in a globalized economy, at the individual level we all have the opportunity to connect with and learn from each other, if we choose to take it. No matter how much our various cultures may differ (in amusing and confusing ways), we all still have much more in common as human beings than we have differences. Given that many factions in the US seem to be increasingly hostile towards immigrants and foreigners these days, this film could not come at a better time (and I hope it receives a wide audience). It correctly portrays the "bad guys" as: not the Indian workers who take American jobs, but rather the corporate executives who willfully ship those jobs overseas to boost the almighty profit margin. And even those guys are basically just doing their jobs and aren't really portrayed as "bad" (which doesn't mean that it isn't funny to watch bad things happen to them). At the end of the film nobody feels like a "loser", even those who have lost their jobs. This movie reminds us that it is sometimes possible for things to change drastically in ways that seem scary, and yet for people to learn and grow as a result, and just maybe end up better than they started.