Can you imagine the factory workers in small-town America who have been outsourced for jobs by Wal-Mart, taking over an abandoned factory, making it work and turning their lives around?

What a story that would make; the underdog rebelling against a corporate giant and winning. David slaying Goliath in the contemporary business world.

It actually happened in Argentina, and Whidbey Island filmmakers Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin were there to film a documentary about it. “Argentina — Hope in Hard Times,” will be shown at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 11 at Thomas Berry Hall at the Whidbey Institute in Clinton.

The film is being screened as part of the Reflective Reels Series. The program invites viewers to a pre-show potluck at 6 p.m. and then to participate after the film is shown in an audience discussion with the filmmakers.

It was December 2001, when the Argentine economy collapsed and one of the most prosperous countries in South America plunged into poverty.

The entire political establishment was derailed and the country went through a dizzying changeover of four presidents in less than a month.

It was a massive shock to a country that seemed to have rebounded amid the fading memory of long years of abuse under a dictatorship; the military lost power and Argentina prospered with a democracy and a global market economy.

But after the collapse, unemployment reached 40 percent, and even those who were middle class learned how it felt to be powerless, hungry and poor. People stormed supermarkets for food, unrest intensified and the police gunned down 30 people in one horrific day.

Then came a transformation that will go down in history as an economical miracle.

Remarkably, and against all odds, people began turning to each other for mutual support. Young and Dworkin happened to be there to capture the story of a people who chose hope over helplessness.

“Que se vayan todos!” was the chant that echoed in the streets of Buenos Aires and in the film created by Young and Dworkin. The phrase, shouted by the throng of students, housewives and professionals who wove their way through Buenos Aires in solidarity while banging on pots and pans, means “Throw them all out!”

The film joins the processions and protests, attends street-corner neighborhood meetings and visits the urban gardens and cooperatives where Argentines pick up the pieces of their devastated economy.

The movie shows how workers decided to go back to work and revive factories abandoned by bankrupt owners.

The military, no longer as powerful as it once was, was unable to stop Argentines from manning the factories. But over the course of a year, it was a back and forth battle between the workers, the factory owners and the courts.

Finally, new President Nestor Kirchner decided to give the workers two years to prove their way would work.

“The president was a visionary and allowed himself to think outside the box,” Dworkin said.

Historically, business in Argentina was always seen as evil, and people viewed unions as almost sacred. Taking over the factories opened up a world of power for the people, however. Using the abundance of supplies that were abandoned, the workers started to revive the economy and began to see business as a viable solution to their problems. They invoked change at a grassroots level.

“It took a lot of courage to be as outraged as they were,” Young said.

Young and Dworkin were inspired by the positive feelings reverberating in the streets and focused on the grassroot changes that were happening all around them. They were attracted to the story that centered on people coming together to find solutions rather than wallowing in their problems.

“It reminded me of how effective a community can be, much like the Hearts & Hammers group on Whidbey Island,” Dworkin said.

Both Young and Dworkin said “Argentina — Hope in Hard Times” is like all of their films; movies that stem from a desire to change what’s wrong in the world and to focus on solutions.

“We see ourselves as Northwest filmmakers who feel a responsibility toward the region we live in. By looking at what these South Americans did, we can give people here the sense that it is possible to do something to effect change in your own part of the world,” he added.

Social justice and environmental concerns are united themes in the eyes of these filmmakers. All of their documentaries, many of which have been award-winners and have been shown on television and at major film festivals throughout the world, are rooted in the search for solutions.

The duo are constantly striving to create a dialogue through their films.

“Virtually every time we show ‘Hope in Hard Times’ the conversation turns to the U.S. and what can we do here to avoid that situation,” Young said.

“There’s a lot we can learn from what people are doing there,” she added.

In fact, as Young pointed out, they are dealing with a lot of the same issues that Americans are worried about, such as job outsourcing and privatization.

But, as this latest film shows as do many of the films the couple makes, there are ways of inducing change in your own world.

The team is currently working on a follow-up documentary to “Hope in Hard Times” that looks at what is happening now in Argentina, and reflects on what has happened since the Argentines took back their lives.

Like their films “Net Loss,” a film on the economy of a local coastal fishing communities and the fragile marine environment, and “Beyond Organic,” the story of a California organic farm struggling to survive amid the encroachment of suburbia, their ambition is to make movies that matter in the grand scheme of our world.

Young and Dworkin are currently working on a TV program that celebrates sustainable farming systems and organic food in the Northwest. And in May, they plan to publish a curriculum guide for their documentary “How Can I Keep on Singing?” — a look at gritty tales of settler and indigenous women in Washington and British Columbia written 100 years ago.

It is apparent that this filmmaking team is serious about the power of change and that they’ve made up their minds to get the word out that when people put their minds to solving problems, anything is possible.

You can check out Dworkin and Young’s Website at www.movingimages.org.

The Reflective Reels Series screens a film the second Wednesday of every month. For more information call 341-1884 or go to www.whidbeyinstitute.org.

Patricia Duff can be reached at 221-5300 or pduff@southwhidbeyrecord.com.