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On 05 February 2004, twenty three Chinese drowned in Morecambe
Bay. Their families in China are still paying off their debts.
When a young girl, Ai Qin pays $25,000 to be smuggled into
the UK in order to support her family back in China, she becomes
another one of three million migrant workers that have become
the bedrock of our economy. Forced to live with eleven other
Chinese in a two bedroom house, they work in factories preparing
food for British supermarkets. Risking their lives for pennies
these unprotected workers end up cockling in Morecambe Bay
at night. With an extraordinary debut performance from Ai
Qin Lin in a film whose principal characters are played by
Chinese former illegal immigrants, Ghosts offers a
unique insight into a secret world that surrounds us...
In
2004, the tragic death of a group of Chinese cockle-pickers
was headline news internationally. Whilst they were illegal
migrants, they were also victims of a system that exploits
people desperate for a seemingly better life in Britain. Willing
to sacrifice everything for her son's welfare, Ai Qin Lin
pays to be illegally smuggled out of China and into Britain
in the hope of a better life. However, the reality is far
different. She's forced to accept low-paid jobs and overcrowded
living conditions, but also enduring abuse and bullying. After
hard labour on farms and in factories and fields, better prospects
beckon on the beaches of Morecambe Bay.
Director
Nick Broomfield has made his formidable reputation as a documentary
filmmaker. In Ghosts he focuses on one young single
mother, Ai Qin Lin, whose harrowing personal experiences form
the basis for a lot of her on-screen character. Lin is one
of the lucky ones, but she is just one example of the ruthless
emergence of a modern-day slave trade at a time when the two
hundredth anniversary of the slave trade is being acknowledged.
The film provides a voice to this invisible but growing aspect
of immigrant population, a world which is easier to ignore
than acknowledge.
While
there is a strong message at the centre of this movie I wondered
why Broomfield was so insistent that our government should
pick up the pieces - pointing out that we've done nothing
to help the families of the Chinese workers that were killed
at Morecambe Bay. While I understand how cold it must seem
that they are left in financial debt, why is it that we are
to blame? Yes, maybe laws could be introduced to heavily fine
any company that knowingly employees illegal migrants, but
should we be forced to pick up the pieces when someone enters
our country illegally and then expects us to pay when everything
goes pair shaped? You could just as easily argue that the
government should ask for money from the families of the dead
cockle-pickers. They were here illegally and the financial
costs incurred of sorting everything out shouldn't be passed
on to the tax payer. If Broomfield feels so strongly about
it why doesn't he settle the debt with the profits from this
movie? He seems to be the only one profiteering from their
tragedy after all.
The
Making of featurette is extremely interesting - one
of the best I've seen. It covers just about everything you
could ever want to know about the background to the movie.
It follows the production from the start of casting until
the movie is shown at festivals. It was interesting to see
that the late introduction of Lin, as the main character,
actually led to the movie being based more on her experiences.
If she hadn't been cast who knows how differently the whole
story would have unfolded.
If
you thought those closing scenes looked incredibly believable,
that's because Broomfield actually took Lin home to meet her
family and real son and then filmed the results. It also illustrated
why the death of 23 Chinese obviously made no impact on those
English cockle-pickers who were partly to blame for their
deaths. Broomfield and his crew are verbally bullied and attacked
by a group of local cockle-pickers. But then I wonder how
much of this was edited. One of the fishermen is quite clearly
heard telling Broomfield to calm down, yet Broomfield appears
animated on screen but we don't hear him speak. Could it be
that Broomfield bullied the documentary maker Marc Hoeferlin
into removing his voice from the footage? That in actuality
Broomfield was being verbally abusive back to the cockle-pickers
- deliberately inciting an incident to cause controversy?
There
is also an interesting interview with, who I presume is, the
owner of the chicken packing plant in the movie. He was very
concerned that this was going to show his industry in a bad
light and he was insistent that they were not to film any
scenes with the carcasses being torn apart. Ironically he
does his industry more harm than the film actually does.
The
other extras include Original Theatrical Trailer; and
notes by Jason Wood. I've no idea whether the notes are contained
in a DVD booklet or supposed to be on the DVD as our review
disc didn't contain them.
This
part-drama, part-documentary film is well worth picking up.
The Making of featurette is at least as enjoyable as
the actual film - which is rare for a feature.
Pete
Boomer
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