"The Cleaners" is a documentary about the people working in South-East Asia for social networks in order to keep the platforms clean from inappropriate content and criminal postings. It shows the people that tend to work unseen by the public and questions what postings get deleted and which remain untouched.
Social networks nowadays take such an important place in our whole society, that it is critical to question these things and to try to make them a bit more transparent. It is good that somebody finally shows the people behind these control mechanisms and also points out what a huge psychical burden it can be to be confronted with the worst content day after day. The only thing that somehow disturbed me was that the documentary was made to look very moody, being filmed mostly by night and in very dark colors, as if it was supposed to underline the dark, sinister content. For me that's a bit unprofessional for a film that wants to depict reality. Otherwise you have to appreciate the investigative job done here and the will to overcome barriers in order to present this story properly.
All in all this is a film dealing with a very important and contemporary problem. In terms of production there would have been potential for even more sometimes but in general it is a professionally looking film that raises questions.
Social networks nowadays take such an important place in our whole society, that it is critical to question these things and to try to make them a bit more transparent. It is good that somebody finally shows the people behind these control mechanisms and also points out what a huge psychical burden it can be to be confronted with the worst content day after day. The only thing that somehow disturbed me was that the documentary was made to look very moody, being filmed mostly by night and in very dark colors, as if it was supposed to underline the dark, sinister content. For me that's a bit unprofessional for a film that wants to depict reality. Otherwise you have to appreciate the investigative job done here and the will to overcome barriers in order to present this story properly.
All in all this is a film dealing with a very important and contemporary problem. In terms of production there would have been potential for even more sometimes but in general it is a professionally looking film that raises questions.