(TRUCK ENGINE RUMBLING)
(KEYS JANGLING)
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
RADICA: When I moved from Serbia, it surprised me a little bit
how much Americans love their flag.
(LIGHT SWITCHES CLICKING)
RADICA: When I started working at Eder Flag,
I actually asked, "How long I gonna have a job there?"
And I was thinking, "How many flags people need?"
SEWER: Good morning.
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
(KEYPAD BEEPS)
-RADICA: In all our flags... -(KEYPAD BEEPING)
...we have pieces of our employees' stories.
Their thoughts, what they are thinking while they are making that flag.
Is today better day than yesterday?
(SEWING MACHINE WHIRRING)
RADICA: That flag has a story to tell.
The story of us.
-(MUSIC CONCLUDES) -(CLOTH TEARING)
RADICA: Our flags are used almost everywhere.
We even had one large order recently for the Statue of Liberty.
We got it.
Okay. They're gonna be pulling the flag
and we're gonna be passing the flag down all the way.
When that end gets to you, just pass it to the next person
and keep pulling down until we can open up the flag all the way.
Okay?
Uh. Make sure to grab the whole thing and keep passing down.
It's a big river.
We have employees from all over the world.
If you can use your hands, you can work at Eder.
Good job, guys.
Okay.
Okay. Shake it.
A lot of my employees have been through a lot.
Mida lost everything in Puerto Rico in hurricane.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
RADICA: Yvonne fled her country pregnant
and then spent years in refugee camps in Tanzania.
Milanko came from Bosnia. He was prisoner of war there.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
RADICA: Then we have Ali, who fled Iraq with young family.
SEWER 1: What age have your daughter?
-ALI: Huh? -SEWER 1: Age?
-SEWER 2: Your daughter. -SEWER 1: Your daughter?
-SEWER 1: How... -My daughter?
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Five years and a half.
(SEWERS SPEAKING SPANISH)
SEWER 1: (IN ENGLISH) In his language...
-"Dobro" in his language... -(MILANKO SPEAKING SERBO-CROATIAN)
SEWER 1: (IN ENGLISH) His language, "dobro" is "good."
SEWER 3: I told you...
My leg here?
RADICA: Yeah.
And here, okay.
RADICA: Mm-hmm.
-(MUSIC FADES) -(SEWING MACHINE WHIRRING)
-RADICA: That's great. -Thank you.
Mm-hmm. Just keep going. Keep going. You're gonna be practicing that.
ALI: (CHUCKLES) I am nervous.
Oh, you want me to walk away and come later to check on you?
Because I don't wanna make you nervous
-more than what you are, huh? -(SEWING MACHINE WHIRRING)
Okay. I'll leave you a little bit alone.
And if you need something, just call me, okay?
-ALI: Okay. -I have more material here for you.
ALI: Okay. Thank you, ma'am.
(SPEAKING ARABIC) Between all the papers and procedures,
I waited for twelve years with the hopes of coming to America.
In Baghdad,
there were lots of murders and death by mortar shells and IEDs.
My neighborhood was called "The Death Road."
More than once, I survived explosions only 150 meters away from me.
ALI: (IN ENGLISH) Thank you.
(BABY COOING)
(IN ARABIC) This job is really important. It's not just any job.
I want to do it perfectly.
Fifty States. Each state has a population of five to six million, if not more.
So you end up doing work for fifty, sixty million people.
(CUTLERY CLINKING)
ALI'S WIFE: God willing, we will both work.
(BABY FUZZING)
God willing, we will buy a car.
God willing, we will work and travel to see all the American states.
New York, Washington, Florida.
-(ALI SPEAKING ARABIC) -ALI'S WIFE: And California.
ALI: Texas.
ALI'S WIFE: Texas… no.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
SUGARRAY: (IN ENGLISH) I really love being from Milwaukee.
It's a small city on a scale
of the New Yorks and the Los Angeles, right?
Growing up, we really leaned on one another.
People tend to love this city,
just like people tend to love this country.
-(HIP-HOP SONG PLAYING ON RADIO) -SUGARRAY: (SINGING) Bouncing again
Bouncing again, bouncing again
bouncing again.
SUGARRAY: At Eder Flag, my job is really to stay on top of the flagpole kits.
We get everything boxed up, packaged up to go out of the door.
-What's going on, bruh? -Man, have you seen them Bucks yesterday?
Yeah, man.
WORKER: Man, that was good, man.
All right. I'mma holler at you, bro. Yeah.
-You know, we got more of these at Zone G? -Yeah. The Zone G.
I need to get out the forklift and go to the Zone G.
SUGARRAY: I haven't worked at a place that has been this diverse before.
Appreciate it. Yeah.
I understand the pride of immigrants,
looking at the American flag,
being in a country where you could aspire to be anything that you wanna be.
Like, that's real.
But when you start to learn more about how this country was built,
for Black and Brown people,
it really doesn't... uh, kind of include... you.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
BARB: Name one problem that led to the Civil War.
SEWER 1: Slave...
-BARB: Slavery. -SEWER 1: Slavery. Okay.
What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?
SEWER 1: Uh, speech?
-Yes. -Okay. And...
Okay. How many amendments does...
-SEWER 1: Twenty-seven. -BARB: Right.
-See, you know. -Hmm.
This. The question. This.
BARB: Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states.
Which is one power of the states?
I don't...
-Good morning. Good morning. -SEWER 2: Good morning.
I'm tired.
Good morning.
BARB: Nice people here.
Really nice.
I'm tired, man.
Take a nap in one of these piles of flags.
(CHUCKLING) Whoopsie. Sorry.
-SEWER 3: That's uncalled for. -(CHUCKLES)
BARB: Don't remember all their names.
Their names are different than American names.
(CHUCKLING)
But that's okay.
I mean, if you come to the country legal, that's fine.
(SIGHS)
Sewing flags, it's kind of in my blood.
My ancestors fought for that flag.
My grandfather was in the service. My father, my brother.
(SEWING MACHINE WHIRRING)
BARB: They're just proud of it. That's my country.
Better than a lot of countries. That's all I know.
RADICA: Everybody thinks they are the best country.
Good morning, everybody.
-How is everybody doing this morning? -SEWERS: Good morning.
-(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING) -(GREETING IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES)
(IN ENGLISH) Let's do some exercises. Come on. I'm gonna do it with you guys.
Okay. Let's pick cherries.
Pick cherries.
-Chicken wings. Okay. We're gonna do this. -(SEWERS CHUCKLE)
RADICA: I am half and half.
Half of my life I was in Serbia, half here.
And both of them are my home.
-(MUSIC CONCLUDES) -I do love America, but I do love Serbia.
And you have two kids, when you kiss one,
that doesn't mean you don't love the other kid.
Wow. I look very different with perm. (CHUCKLING)
(HAIR CLIPPER BUZZING)
This is four now. It's not gonna be too short.
I'm just gonna cut everything with four.
-Okay. -Okay?
RADICA: Twenty-eight years ago,
my husband and I, we decided to leave Serbia
and come to United States with our child.
Serbia was on edge of war and the house I lived in with my family
got hit with a bomb and destroyed.
All these memories.
First time when I realized what actually the American flag means
is a little bit silly story.
I was watching a movie called Not Without My Daughter.
End of that movie,
the mother is with her daughter trying to get to safety.
And every time I talk about it, I cry. I am sorry. (CHUCKLES)
They were alone, with nobody to help them, and then suddenly they heard a noise.
(FLAGPOLE RATTLING)
RADICA: That noise was a flag.
And the US Embassy... (CHUCKLES)
(WHISPERS) I'm sorry.
(MACHINE THUDDING)
(MACHINERY WHIRRING)
SUGARRAY: A flag is a flag
right from the beginning when you get that material.
That's when a flag is born.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
(MACHINE WHIRRING)
BARB: You don't think about all the sewing that goes into the flag.
The first step is sewing from star field to the short stripes.
The next person will take the long stripes.
RADICA: Each star has five points, and on every single point,
the material needs to be turned around
which makes 250 times turned around.
ALI: (SPEAKING ARABIC) When I was a kid, I always loved to draw stars.
Now, I get to do it professionally.
SEWER 1: (IN ENGLISH) When I put the last star,
the flag have life.
SEWER 2: (SPEAKING SPANISH) One flag is not made by one person.
It's the dream,
the work of many people.
(PATRIOTIC MARCHING MUSIC PLAYING)
(FESTIVE CHATTER)
(SPECTATORS CHEERING)
SPECTATORS: (CHANTING IN ENGLISH) USA! USA! USA! USA!
-(MARCHING BAND PLAYING) -(PERFORMERS SINGING)
-Point. -(CHEERS)
ALI: (SPEAKING ARABIC) Hi, Mom.
This is America's Independence Day.
They go to the malls, parks, or to the lake.
Or they grill kebabs or steak meat.
And the weather is good here, not like Iraq.
If I sit like this in the sun in Iraq, I'll be burnt.
I will be like the barbecue. Like the grilled meat.
(CHUCKLES)
(BOYS CHATTERING)
(DOG BARKING)
(IN ENGLISH) Oh. Careful, man.
(GRUNTS)
SUGARRAY: Go ahead. Yeah. Go ahead.
-Go from one side to the next. -SUGARRAY'S WIFE: Let me see some tricks.
SUGARRAY: Yeah, let see some cool tricks.
(SUGARRAY AND WIFE LAUGHING)
SUGARRAY: My wife is a nurse.
She works third shift weekends.
And then I'm working first shift Monday through Friday.
We were able to save our pennies over the last ten years
and purchased our first home.
-(BABY COOING) -SUGARRAY: Hey, what you doing?
Huh. We're not eating bubbles.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
SUGARRAY: I don't currently have a flag flying at my house.
It is something that me and my wife have talked about.
We definitely love this country. You know what I mean?
-(BABY COOING) -What?
(FIREWORKS BLASTING)
SUGARRAY: It don't always love you back.
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
(FIREWORKS BLASTING)
(MUSIC FADES)
-(ROCK SONG PLAYING ON RADIO) -SINGER: So you used to shake 'em down
But now you stop And think about your dignity
BARB: (SINGING) Sweet sixteen's turned thirty-one
-Yeah. -SINGER: You get to feelin' weary
when the work day's done
BARB: The Fourth of July parade,
this is the second year I missed because of my breathing.
(COUGHS)
-(SNIFFLES) -(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
BARB: Last time I went to the doctor, it has to be a couple of years at least.
(COUGHS)
One of my neighbors was a veteran.
She lets me have some of her nebulizer medicine for my machine.
I just can't really afford it right now.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
I know you said somewhere in June you wanna retire.
-BARB: Yeah. -You don't know exactly?
I'm not positive yet. I think I'm ready. I don't know.
I can always get a part-time job but... (GROANS) ...I like sewing.
I like it here. I like it here.
Here, there are so many different languages.
-Mm-hmm. -I mean, from China, Iraq.
-RADICA: Mm-hmm. -Pakistan.
I think a lot of them don't wanna learn a lot of the English way.
RADICA: It's not... It's not they don't want to. People are shy.
Being afraid of making mistakes or say something wrong or pronounce wrong,
they are shy to speak.
And that makes harder for everybody to learn.
-BARB: Yeah. That's harder. You're right. -Mm-hmm.
BARB: My grandfather was...
-He had accents too. -Mm-hmm.
You know, my parents and my grandparents...
-RADICA: Mm-hmm. -BARB: I remember.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
ALI'S WIFE: (SPEAKING ARABIC) What is this?
I don't know.
Is this a coconut?
(IN ENGLISH) Oh, coconut water.
(IN ARABIC) See if you puncture and insert it.
(SPEAKS ARABIC)
ALI'S WIFE: (IN ENGLISH) Gruyere.
AI VOICE: Gruyere cheese.
ALI'S WIFE: Gruyere cheese. (SPEAKS ARABIC)
ALI: (SPEAKING ARABIC) My wife is actually from Algeria, but we met in Syria.
After a year and a half, we got married and came back to Iraq.
(SPEAKS ARABIC)
Tomato?
-(IN ENGLISH) Cinnamon. -(IN ARABIC) Tomato?
ALI: (SPEAKING ARABIC) After that, we wanted to go back to Syria,
but a war started there,
and I was afraid she would get hurt.
(SPEAKS ARABIC)
-(BABY BABBLING) -(SERENE MUSIC PLAYING)
-ALI'S WIFE: (IN ENGLISH) Wow. -ALI: Wow.
(ALI'S WIFE CHUCKLING, CLAPPING)
ALI: (SPEAKING ARABIC) But here in America, life is very beautiful.
-CASHIER: (IN ENGLISH) There you are. -ALI'S WIFE: Thank you.
Bye-bye, Pick 'n Save.
(CHUCKLES)
ALI: Welcome.
Welcome cat!
-ALI'S WIFE: No, no, no. (LAUGHING) -ALI: No, no, no.
ALI'S WIFE: (SPEAKING ARABIC) Let her, let her sweetie. Tell her, come, come.
ALI: (SPEAKING ARABIC) Oh, my God, my heart, my heart.
(ALI AND WIFE SPEAKING ARABIC)
(MUSIC FADES)
INTERVIEWER: (IN ENGLISH) What's your biggest goal right now?
(IN ARABIC) If I said them, they won't come true.
(CHUCKLES)
(AMBULANCE SIREN WAILING IN THE DISTANCE)
(THERMOMETER BEEPS)
RADICA: (IN ENGLISH) Excellent. Thank you.
SEWER: Thank you.
RADICA: America is not the same America when I came here.
(SEWING MACHINE WHIRRING)
RADICA: But whole world is changing.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
REPORTER: (OVER RADIO) There was more than basketball certainly on the minds
of the Milwaukee Bucks after the Jacob Blake shooting
in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Shot seven times in the back by police officers in Kenosha.
Protest again in Kenosha tonight.
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
SUGARRAY: You really kind of get the temperature of this country
by the flags.
(BARB MUTTERING INDISTINCTLY)
(COUGHS)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
SUGARRAY: I try and work as hard as I do
to be able to provide a good life for my family.
SUGARRAY'S SON: No. No, let go.
SUGARRAY: You're lucky I'm an old man.
But the state of the country with George Floyd and Jacob Blake...
(SUGARRAY'S SON LAUGHING)
...it takes a toll on you.
(MUSIC FADES)
(QUAVERING) You really just wanna be treated...
(BREATHES SHAKILY)
ALI'S MOTHER: (SPEAKING ARABIC) Hello. How are you, Ali?
ALI: I'm not so good.
-ALI'S MOTHER: Why? What's wrong? -ALI: Um...
I was shopping with my wife and kids.
-At Walmart. -ALI'S MOTHER: Okay.
ALI: As I was holding my daughter, a guy walked up.
I thought he wanted to say "hi" to my baby and give her a compliment.
I didn't expect to find myself on the ground.
He hit me with something.
I don't know if it was his hand or if he was holding something.
The hit was so hard, I lost consciousness for about half a minute or more.
ALI'S MOTHER: Unbelievable!
Did you call the police?
I didn't call the police. Walmart did, but after 10 minutes.
ALI'S MOTHER: After the damage was done.
They arrived after he got away.
They didn't catch him.
ALI'S MOTHER: You have to think of the possibility
that because you are different
maybe because of your background and the country you came from,
that he might not like the people from your country
and that's why he did it.
(CELL PHONE BEEPING)
(DOGS BARKING IN THE DISTANCE)
ALI: After getting hit, all I could think about was my family.
I looked up to see what happened, and found the children crying
and my wife screaming, "security, security."
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
We came here to safely raise our children, not to look for trouble.
-(MUSIC CONTINUES) -(SNOWPLOW BEEPING)
(CARD READER BEEPS)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
(RIOTERS CLAMORING)
NEWS REPORTER: (IN ENGLISH, OVER TV) A deadly assault on the US Capitol.
This is an incredibly dangerous situation unfolding in the United States.
(CLAMOR CONTINUES OVER TV)
NEWS REPORTER: ...when the rioter actually hitting a police officer
with that pole with the American flag on it.
RIOTERS: (CHANTING OVER TV) USA. USA. USA. USA.
(CLAMOR CONTINUES OVER TV)
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(EMERGENCY SIRENS WAILING IN THE DISTANCE)
RADICA: To me, flag has a soul.
I... I do believe that.
(FLAGPOLES RATTLING)
RADICA: I obviously had that belief in America,
it won't ever happen what happened in Yugoslavia.
(RIOTERS CLAMORING)
RADICA: I felt betrayed.
(CLAMOR CONTINUES)
-(MUSIC CONTINUES) -(THUNDER RUMBLING)
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
BARB: This is my last day at Eder.
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER) -(MACHINERY WHIRRING)
BARB: I love my job,
but I'm getting too tired to keep going.
(SEWING MACHINE WHIRRING)
BARB: (SURPRISED) What's this?
Hey, Barbara, surprise!
-(BARB CHUCKLES) -(RADICA CHEERS)
-Oh, Barbara. -Ah, thank you. Look at this.
-You have been working all your life. -(CHUCKLES)
-BARB: Thank you. -Surprise!
BARB: You bet I am!
BARB: What's this?
Oh, a Dachsie!
-(SOLEMN MUSIC PLAYING) -A Dachsie! Look at that.
-Do you like it? -Yes.
Oh, I love it. (CHUCKLES)
-Thank you all. -I will miss you.
BARB: I'll miss you too. I will miss you.
(LAUGHS)
-Say bye. -Take care.
-And you, too. -I'll miss you.
BARB: Are you okay?
(FAINT MUMBLING)
-BARB: Good girl. -SEWER: I love you.
BARB: Oh!
I'll miss my friends here most of all.
(SEWING MACHINE WHIRRING)
BARB: I hope that my work counted for something.
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
(RADICA AND HUSBAND CONVERSING INDISTINCTLY)
-RADICA: What gate did he said? -RADICA'S HUSBAND: Forty-five.
RADICA: Forty-five? That's...
When we were preparing to come here to America,
I didn't even think what is waiting for me.
(ANNOUNCEMENT PLAYING OVER PA)
RADICA: But America gave me a lot
and I think I gave to America my best.
-GATE AGENT: Have a good day. -RADICA: You too. Bye-bye.
Now, I am moving back to Serbia.
Um...
Yeah.
-(AIRPLANE ENGINE RUMBLING) -CAPTAIN: (OVER PA) And we've begun
our initial approach into the New York, LaGuardia area.
RADICA: I have been here almost 30 years and I never been to New York.
Before I am going to Serbia, I wanted to go to see one of our flags.
Oh, my God. (CHUCKLES)
Oh, my God. Look at New York!
GUIDE: (OVER RECORDING) Look at the Manhattan skyline.
Imagine the awe these new arrivals must have felt
as the city's grand vista emerged above the waves.
RADICA: I love America. I know it's not perfect...
but that is beauty.
You don't love something because it's perfect.
You love something because it's yours.
Here she is.
(CHUCKLES)
I wish all of my sewers are here, so they could see.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
-(CHUCKLES) Do you see that? -RADICA'S HUSBAND: Mm-hmm.
RADICA: Look how pretty she is, huh?
(UPLIFTING MUSIC PLAYING)
RADICA: Everybody gives a little bit of themselves to that flag.
And in the end,
the flag is gonna outlive us.
We are a moment. Every single person is a moment in time.
And flags are centuries in time.
We have to understand that.
-(MUSIC CONTINUES) -(ALI'S CHILDREN CHATTERING)
(SEAT BELT CLICKS)
(IN ARABIC, CHUCKLES) I'm so worried.
-ALI: Good luck. -(SPEAKS ARABIC)
(IN ENGLISH) Okay.
(EXHALES SHARPLY)
ALI: (SPEAKING ARABIC) Don't be scared.
-(IN ENGLISH) Okay. -ALI: Okay. Good luck.
ALI'S WIFE: Bye-bye.
ALI: (SPEAKING ARABIC) Mom starts work today.
(EXHALES, IN ENGLISH) Okay.
-Bye-bye. -ALI: Bye-bye. Good luck.
ALI'S WIFE: Thank you.
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
I'm from Algeria. You know Algeria?
And you? Where are you from?
-SEWER: Mexico. -ALI'S WIFE: Mexico?
-SEWER: Yes. -ALI'S WIFE: Oh, good. (CHUCKLING)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
-(MUSIC CONCLUDES) -(SEWING MACHINES WHIRRING)
(RESOLUTE MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)