Blood Bricks: Life in Debt Bondage at the Brick Factories Around Phnom Penh

The narrator explains that many farmers are leaving the countryside, which has been damaged by climate change, to look for work in the big cities. For factory owners, they become a labor force. Entire families struggle to earn a living and borrow money to meet their basic needs. According to the film, child labor goes unreported, and impunity for environmental pollution is commonplace.

It later becomes clear that this migration is not driven by the climate alone. One woman explains that back home, rice farming follows the seasons, and there are only two. Making a living is too hard and there isn't enough to eat, so people leave for the city to work in garment factories or construction.

About 40 kilometers from Phnom Penh, a cluster of tin-roofed buildings hides a brick factory, one of roughly 50 active brick factories around the capital. The film crew says it took weeks of negotiation before they were allowed to film inside.

The factory is home to 26 families, about 100 people, who both work and sleep there. According to the narrator, all 26 of these families are trapped in debt that has completely stripped them of their freedom.

A young woman who works alongside her mother explains that their pay is not a fixed monthly wage. The foreman counts the bricks they make and pays them accordingly. She says working here doesn't pay much. As she describes it, one person earns a little over 20,000 riel a day, but less than 30,000 riel. That money has to be split among a team of four, because the work requires a lot of strength.

She explains that with just two of them, her and her mother, they couldn't manage it. She isn't strong enough, because the cart they have to push doesn't weigh just a few kilos—it weighs nearly a ton. The clay used to make the bricks is wet, soaked with water, and extremely heavy.

The heat is also a major problem. When asked whether the work is exhausting, they reply that it's hot, really hot, because the clay absorbs the heat and temperatures can reach 45 degrees.

The woman shows where she lives. It is a cramped little space with only dishes, a rice pot, a few household items and a water jar. When asked where they sleep, she explains that her mother sleeps below, and she lets her mother have the top.

She makes clear that the factory owner provides only the housing. Apart from that, water, electricity and rice all have to be paid for out of their own pockets. Her mother is old, but still works every day.

When they run short, even if it's just prahok to eat, they have to borrow from the factory owner. The woman makes it clear that this is not help or assistance. The money they borrow has to be worked off and paid back to him. They are always in his debt.

She compares the situation to being held prisoner. They can't come and go freely; if they leave, they have to return right away, and sometimes they don't even get enough sleep. The narrator sums it up: the two of them, daughter and mother, have tied their future to their debt.

Still, she explains why she keeps going. Working here at least provides an income. If she left, she wouldn't know what to do or what work she could find.

A worker explains how the work is done. In the old days, the clay was ground by hand. Now there are machines, and the bricks are laid out in rows, fired, and then loaded onto trucks. The bricks are then transported to building sites in Phnom Penh.

The film then turns to the starkly opposite side of the economic boom. The narrator says Cambodia's economy is growing, with an annual growth rate of around 5%.

A property developer named Kim presents his project. He says they are building 400 units, and that the project is special because they build only luxury villas and don't sell any small houses. In his words, when you buy and come to live here, everyone will say you're rich.

The narrator sets this claim against other figures. In Cambodia, the average monthly wage is about $180, and a large share of the population lives below the poverty line. Even so, the demands of the newly rich, who make up about 5% of the population, must be met. These villas are decorated with expensive fittings imported from Europe and sell for sky-high prices.

As for the bricks, the developer says they have to be Khmer bricks, because Cambodia can make them better and cheaper.

An older man has worked at this factory for more than 20 years. He works the night shift, starting at one in the morning, and sometimes he stops only briefly to eat before going back to work.

He describes an accident that happened when he had been working here for less than a year. He slipped, fell into a pit and injured his leg. He was in pain, but still had to work, because he was in debt.

The man says he owes about 5,000. He borrowed the money to care for his sick mother and to pay for her funeral. He says that with his mother ill, he couldn't just stand by, and that's when he fell into debt. Since then, he has paid back only a little over 1,000, with 3,800 still remaining.

He explains that back in his home village he has no land and no house, which is why he lives here. He, too, compares this life to being held prisoner. He can't go anywhere because he owes the owner money, and as long as he's in debt, he has to stay here.

The man talks about his grandchild, who came to live at the factory at the age of 8. The narrator points out that in Cambodia, schooling is compulsory for children. This observation ties back to the claim at the beginning of the film that child labor goes unreported.

One of the most serious findings in the film is what is used as fuel for the kilns. The film crew found clothing and fabric from major fashion companies. There were garments from F&F, the brand of British retailer Tesco, and another from the American brand Gap.

According to the narrator, damaged goods are collected and packed into sacks. Some are sold cheaply, and others are burned as fuel, with no regard for the health of the workers, who work without any protective equipment at all.

One worker explains how the fabric is fed into the kiln, and that the fabric comes from Phnom Penh. When asked about the effects, some workers reply that they don't know.

Villagers living near the factory describe the effects of burning fabric. They smell the burning cloth, and black soot falls onto their houses, turning them completely black. When the wind blows, the smoke drifts straight into people's homes and causes them problems.

One woman says the smoke affects people's health, causing lung inflammation and asthma, and black dust fills the house. Villagers say some sites have been shut down, but not all of them. The narrator states that corruption hinders, or even blocks, the enforcement of the law.

The film follows the young woman met earlier on a trip back to her home village. She has to ask the foreman for a day off. She promises to leave in the morning and return in the evening so the work won't suffer. She explains that at the factory there are no days off. If you want to go anywhere, you have to ask the foreman for permission. She sets off so early in the morning that there are no cars or motorbikes to ride.

She says she wanted to come with her mother, both of them together, but the boss allowed only one of them to go. The boss was afraid they would run off and abandon their debt—afraid that once they got home, they would never come back. She asked for permission honestly, so the boss let her go, but the other had to stay behind at the factory to guarantee that she would return.

She hasn't been back home in four years. On the journey, she is excited, because everything along the way looks new and unfamiliar. When she arrives home, she is happy to see her youngest sister. But the child doesn't recognize her, because she has never seen her face, and seems puzzled about where this person has come from.

She says that when she saw her sister, she forgot all her exhaustion. But she doesn't have much to bring her family, because she is short of money.

Back in her home village, she reflects on life at the factory. She thinks of it as a place where they are held prisoner, to the point where she can hardly breathe. She explains that the boss deducts their debt only a little at a time, so that they will keep paying him back until their hair turns gray, and she can't see when it will ever end.

As for the older man, he says he goes home only once a year, during major festivals such as the Water Festival or Khmer New Year. Other than that, he doesn't go anywhere, and he barely knows even the leisure spots nearby, because he never goes out.

The film ends with his own question, which lays bare the core of this debt system: if he leaves the factory, where would he get the money to pay off his debt?