Gui Lao's movie "Gi Lao"

More Chinese film titles: "Snake Man"

Director: Nick Broomfield

Screenwriter:

Nick Broomfield

Jez Lewis

Starring:

Ai Qin Lin

Zhe Wei... .Xiao Li

Movie Genre: Drama/Adventure

Duration: 96 minutes

Country/Region: United Kingdom

Dialogue Language: English/Mandarin Chinese

Color: Color

Level: UK:15/ Ireland:15A

Camera:

Sony HDW-750

Sony HVR-Z1

Recording format: Video....(HDTV)

Processing format: 35 mm

Year : In 2006, there were about 3 million foreign workers living in the UK, including an estimated 100,000 Chinese. Many of them, like the people in "Ghost Man", were heavily in debt, hiding in the corners of society, and eating the simplest food. Many people live in the same room and work hard, but they do not receive any protection due to barriers such as identity, language and culture.

In 2004, under the dim sky, 23 illegal Chinese immigrants were collecting shellfish on Morecambe Bay beach in the UK. They were rejected by the local residents and had to go out to sea at night. Because of the rising tide, they accidentally died on the beach. .

After the tragedy, the survival of illegal immigrants in the UK has become the focus of attention. The shocked British government began to vigorously crack down on smugglers who manipulate illegal immigrants and tightened immigration policies. However, while tightening control, many people lost their livelihood jobs. Foreign workers were in a more vulnerable position and were in more dangerous situations. environment.

Three years later, British director Broomfield, who is famous for his documentaries, put this tragedy on the screen. The film "Ghosts" was released across the UK, bringing the issue of illegal foreign workers into the spotlight again and exposing this social problem that has always existed but has not been taken seriously.

"Ghost Man" uses a documentary shooting method, with all non-professional actors starring. The content of the film is not only based on the Morecambe Bay tragedy, but also comes from the investigative report "My Undercover Diary" published by the Chinese reporter Bai Xiaohong of the British "Guardian" undercover stowaway group.

“This is not a movie, this is real life!” A Chinese said excitedly after watching the movie. "It's not an immigration issue, it's a labor safety issue"

Some of the young people involved in the Morecambe Bay tragedy have been in the UK for less than a month, but the "smugglers" are still demanding high amounts of money from their families. The British government refused to help them repay their debts for smuggling.

Some British civil rights organizations that specialize in activities for the interests of the Chinese have criticized the British government's measures. They believe that the British government's immigration policy, especially internal control, is the cause of this tragedy. Three years have passed, and as the British government has tightened its immigration policy, foreign workers have been put in a more vulnerable position and work in a more dangerous environment.

A commentary article in the British "Guardian" said: "This is not an immigration issue, but a labor safety issue." Everyone, whether they are migrant workers or indigenous people, illegal or legal immigrants, have a safe and hygienic environment. the right to work.

In this regard, "Ghost Man" also raised a thought-provoking question: How should their situation be changed? Should they have legal status? Should they be exploited by various institutions? Director Bloomfield said: "We all know that without these people, the industry in this country will collapse, transportation, medical care, schools will stop functioning, and there will be no food in the supermarkets. So if those people are called illegal, it is not It is irresponsible to let them continue to work. I hope that the Chinese and all these immigrants can be better accepted by British society and no longer be regarded as second-class citizens and be abused or even abused."

When Lin Aiqin was asked if he had seen this movie before coming to the UK, would he still come? Probably not, she said. During the days of living in the UK, she also met a few people who found what they wanted, but that required a lot of luck, and most people had a bad life.

Ten years have passed, and Lin Aiqin gave the best of his youth to Britain. But what did Britain give her back? Her answer was obviously vague: "Don't judge things by their appearance." The lead actor was an illegal immigrant

The film's heroine, Lin Aiqin, is from Changle City, Fujian Province, China. She raised nearly 200,000 yuan in handouts. She was 21 years old at the time and embarked on a dream journey to the UK.

The memory of that period is somewhat blurry, but she can clearly recall the cold and hunger she experienced when passing through Russia. I naively thought it would only take at most two weeks to reach the UK, but I didn’t expect that it would take nearly five months on the road.

Under the arrangement of the "snakehead", she traveled through various means of transportation from China to Moscow, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, and the Netherlands, and finally arrived in the UK hidden in a cargo ship.

This long and exhausting journey gave her British dream a heavy blow when it was still hanging in the air. The days that followed were always entangled with poor living conditions, long working hours, low wages, and being exploited by employers. The hard life of illegal immigrants does not necessarily follow China's principle of "hardship comes after hardship".

Lin Aiqin’s experience is very similar to the smuggling process of her character in the movie "Ghost Man". However, she did not have to come to the UK because she was poor. Before going abroad, she had her own shop in her hometown, processing gold and silver jewelry, but she thought that going abroad would help her find a better way out for the future.

She said that the working experience shown in the movie was even more difficult than when she first arrived in the UK, especially picking up shellfish in Morecambe Bay, which was not something ordinary people could bear.

From a former "ghost guy" to a movie star known to the British, Lin Aiqin was not happy about it. She didn't even want to watch the film because many of the scenes made her cry. "The vast majority of British people don't know the Chinese people living here. They only know a little bit about 'Made in China'. I hope people can understand after watching this movie how painful it is for these people to leave their families and children and come to the UK. Their emotions are the same as others, or even richer. Many British people would not think of these." Director Broomfield talked about his original intention of making this film.

In order to more accurately understand the life of "Ghost Guys", Broomfield did a lot of preliminary preparations. He and some hired Chinese students even went undercover to work with illegal immigrants. for several weeks. Then write down your experience and feelings.

He went to Chinatown to find actors, and 48-year-old Zhan Yu was one of the actors he found. Zhan Yu has been in the UK from Beijing for seven years. In China, he was a TV director of children's programs. After coming to the UK, he worked hard and ran a Chinese restaurant.

The lead actor Lin Aiqin was recommended to him by a pastor. At first, Lin Aiqin was very suspicious of Broomfield's purpose and always remained vigilant. She felt that she had no acting experience and that if she had to act, she could only play a restaurant waiter.

All the actors in "Ghost Man" are non-professionals, including the British actor who is a real shell picker on Morecambe Bay Beach. They had no lines written in the script to memorize, and most of the dialogue was arranged on the spot. The Chinese "ghost guys" in the film all spoke Fujian dialect or Mandarin. Because it was an experience they were familiar with, their emotions were expressed very naturally.

Despite the difficult life of the workers, Broomfield arranged some relaxing scenes. For example, the heroine and the workers occasionally have some leisure time to play mahjong for entertainment, or go to barbecue together and secretly Joke about the foreman and his girlfriend. “People often have a good sense of humor in the most difficult circumstances, and that’s how we survive.

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