Eulogy for life on factory floor

In early 2007, documentary filmmaker Matthew Barr walked into a room filled with Hooker Furniture executives and made a pretty bold request.

Could he bring cameras into the soon-to-be-shuttered Hooker manufacturing plant in Martinsville, Va., and document the last days of the factory?

The answer he got was yes.

"It was gutsy," admits Barr, 59, who is an associate professor of media studies at UNC-Greensboro. "Because how do they know what I was going to do?"

"I had no idea what was going to happen with Hooker, but I think because they're their own company and not part of a conglomerate, it was OK."

Soon thereafter, he started filming in the three-story, 800,000-square-foot factory.

Like many American furniture factories -- including many in North Carolina -- the Hooker plant was living through the downsizing of an industry. As our state continues to move away from traditional manufacturing, the story will likely resonate in many towns across North Carolina.

Barr starting shooting footage at 6 a.m., when workers gathered to gossip before the start of their shift. And he shot at night when the factory was still.

He talked to some of the 280 workers, plus the executives that oversaw them.

And he found the quiet solace that comes with the daily routine of factory work.

"A furniture factory going full tilt has a lot of energy to it," he said. "It kind of rumbles. It wasn't robotic like a car factory. ... I found the work was kind of hypnotic. It was lyrical. I found it really kind of beautiful."

Barr tells the story of the final days of the Hooker Case Goods Plant in his film, "With These Hands: The Story of An American Furniture Factory."

The film has already had a few screenings, mostly in small towns and in community gathering places like churches. There will be a free public screening in Raleigh on Saturday night.

"I think the film is affirming in that people come out from the film saying, 'Wow, we've got some really skilled people in our country,'" Barr said.

The one thing that surprised him: "I didn't find a lot of anger against Hooker," Barr said. "[The workers] knew. There was a sense of resignation. They'd been seeing plants shut down for 25 to 30 years. And Hooker was respectful of their people. How do you place a value on that?"

The film is one that will strike a chord with factory workers all over the country, said Steve Walker, assistant director of the Furniture Manufacturing Management Center at N.C. State University, who is featured in the film.

"I worked a long time with Ethan Allen and then with Thomasville," he said. "As of right now, every factory I've worked in is closed. That's a total of four."

The documentary does a good job of explaining the overall state of the furniture industry and the dilemmas facing U.S. furniture makers, Walker said.

"From a shareholder point of view, [CEO] Paul Toms made all the right decisions," he said. "For a long period of time, they were able to steadily grow their sales and grow their profits."

"With These Hands" is Barr's third documentary film, following "Carnival Train," which followed a traveling carnival troupe, and "Wild Caught: The Life and Struggles of a Small Fishing Town," which chronicled the story of Sneads Ferry, N.C.

Barr admits that he's really playing the role of historian in all his films, trying to document groups of people before their ways of life go extinct.

Some of his films have become rallying points for political groups, particularly "Wild Caught," which helped motivate changes in legislation protecting small fishing towns.

Barr said he hopes "With These Hands" can have a similar effect. It has already been distributed to several legislators in North Carolina and Virginia.

"We want to try to see what we can try to do to preserve furniture here," he said.

And Barr sees the film as a good way to transition to his next project: a nonprofit he and his wife started called The Unheard Voices Project. Their goal is to build an archive of stories of working people that they feel are not being told or documented.

"When people go into restaurants, it's like the busboy is invisible," Barr said. "I'd like to interview the busboy."

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