As Were Told

Its simple We do as were told This disconcerting reply comes from a Swedish employment office employee when asked how the countrys most unpopular government agency works And thats not all in this creative documentary case workers receptionists and psychologists reveal how the Swedish employment system is failing They complain about inadequate software and mystifying error messages excessive caseloads and demoralizing resultson average each case worker helps just 10 people find work each year and only one in 10 clients will find a new job To assure the anonymity of the interviewees theyre all represented by cardboard puppets Thanks to visible puppeteers expressive eyes and recognizable gestures these puppets quickly take on the appearance of real people The result is a fascinating comical and artistic study of human strategies to get along in an irrational bureaucracy