Breadmakers

At its most basic level factual film should, of course, serve to ‘document’ reality. But is it the duty of the documentarian to add to the visual image or not? That is the question you are left with after watching Breadmakers.

Director Yasmin Fedda’s camera follows the workers at a bakery. It is no ordinary establishment, since the workers all have learning difficulties but it is certainly a thriving one, with an infectious happiness about it. The problem is, you are left wanting to know far more than Fedda tells you. Where is the bakery? There’s a hint on the side of a van, but it is quickly gone, you want to get to know these people more, not just see them working. What do they think of the place? Who founded it? The questions just keep coming.

There is much to praise about what Fedda shows us but one can’t help thinking it is what she doesn’t reveal that would prove most interesting.