Ghosts

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Audience Member An interesting approach to illegal immigration and to cinema, it is inspired by the tragedy of the cockle-pickers who died in Morecambe Bay in 2004. It tells us the story of Ai Qin, a Chinese single mum struggling to bring up her only son. For the only purpose of getting him a proper education Ai Qin borrows a huge amount of money to be smuggled into the UK. We follow her journey from a remote village of Fuzhou to Norfolk, where she is underpaid for working seasonally in the food industry. The housing conditions are bad, several Chinese illegal workers are cramped in a small and dirty terraced house, paying an abusive rent. When her crew runs out of work they are forced to look for employment elsewhere. In the meanwhile they are exposed to racist slurs by neighbours, agency staff and the police. Attacked by the British workers they have no choice but to pick cockles at night when they are surprised by the rising tide. The central characters of the film aren't actors but former illegal immigrants, it gives touch of honesty to a plot that a famous paid actor couldn't possibly achieve; in a way this is almost a dramatization of the tragic events of 2004. It is an engaging mix of fact and fiction in cinema, apparently the "actors" weren't given dialogues, everything you see is improvisation. They don't really have to perform, they just have to be themselves. Morally, the movie puts illegal immigration in the spotlight because, while British society criticizes it, it benefits from the low wages the illegal workers receive as the food they produce is cheaper. The sad fact of the real victims of the tragedy at Morecambe Bay is that they had to borrow a huge amount of money to enter Britain, and while they are dead now, their families are forced to pay the remainder to the loan sharks, back in China. The film inform us that there is a bank account for the purpose of helping repay the debt of the workers who died that night and everybody is invited to make a donation. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Well-made saga on human trafficking. The story revolves around a girl from rural China who illegaly goes to the UK in search of better prospects.Director Nick Broomfiled gives an unbiased view on such a topic. He elicts great preformances from his cast, especially the titular star, who is the real-life subject of the story as well. Pity this did not get more attention. Worth a look if you ever come across this title. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Just when you thought it was safe to be around white people Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member I liked it. This was a really sad story. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member What does "Ghosts" mean, ::鬼佬:: or the invisible existence of the illegal immigrants who work like slaves in the UK? or the both. I was stunned when watching this gloomy(sometimes grimy), documentary-style film on Sundance Channel. The true event was in the news a few years ago: 23 illegal Chinese immigrants drowned in Morecambe Bay when digging for cockles one evening(to avoid the assaults by locals under daylight)...... Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member A moving and powerful film based on the tragedy that took place in 2004 at Morcambe Bay, Lancashire, UK. 23 Chinese illegal immigrant workers, cockle picking on the notoriously dangerous coast, died after becoming trapped by rising tides. Nick Broomfield, a veteran of creating documentaries, writes and directs. He cast amateur actors to play all the roles to help bring a sense of realism and grittiness to the story. 'Ghosts' is an ambiguous title. In one sense it is the word Chinese use to refer to white westerners and the other is a reference to the invisibility of illegal immigrant workers who are unprotected and poorly paid. The story follows Ai Qin, a young Chinese girl who pays Chinese snakeheads to smuggle her to the UK in order for her to support her family and child back in China. Once she arrives in the UK she is forced to live in cramped shared accomodation with many other illegal Chinese immigrants. They are desperate for any kind of work to enable them to send money home to their families. Not only are they faced with racism and threats of violence from their neighbours but also from fellow cockle pickers. The gangmasters take them to pick cockles in the evening at Morcambe Bay but they're completely unaware of how dangerous the changing tide can be. Some facts about the real incident: 21 bodies were found but 2 people were never accounted for, many of them in their teens and some were discovered naked having attempted to swim back to the shore. They were working for gangmasters, slave labour to you and me, they were working for a tiny amount of money to send back to their families. Instead of dialling 999 for the emergency services on their mobile phones, they called their families to tell them they loved them and the majority of them never saw their families again. Neither the British nor the Chinese government were willing to give financial help to the families who lost loved ones. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Ghosts

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