Sorry about the delay. I had a bit of internet disruption just before my 5 movies on Saturday. I saw this Friday evening at the Tower.
If you follow the news, you may remember just short of three years ago when a group of illegal Chinese immigrants in England were caught in a high tide while cockleing (an activity much like raking clams) during a storm - to avoid the racist locals. Most of the workers drowned. If you don’t remember, here’s the link to the initial article on the incident from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/3464203.stm
“Ghosts” is the story of one of the women who survived.
Ai Quin is a single mother who feels compelled to leave China so that she afford a better life for her son and herself. She hires a “snakehead” (much like the “coyote” people smugglers in North America) to smuggle her to the UK, the land journey across Asia and Europe takes 6 months and costs her $25,000. Once she arrives in England she finds herself working menial day jobs, ranging from onion picking to packaging meat, and living in a small house with 12 other people. 25% of her first paycheck goes to rent.
Nick Broomfield has made a touching human story out of this tragedy. It is a personal story as well as a parable on the global problems of illegal immigration. There is a brief sledgehammer moment at the end, but I can forgive that.
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