Ghosts

I'm disappointed that only one comment on Ghosts has been posted since the film's release. It is, I think, an important film that deserves commentary.

On the whole, I'm not a fan of Nick Broomfield and his usual technique of 'authored' or 'performed' documentaries, in which he often plays a starring role. As a consequence, I've never before been to a theatrical screening of one of his films. In the early sequences of Ghosts, the approach is very much like a television documentary or a reality TV show. As I don't like reality TV, my interest was held less by style and more by the details of the narrative and by the chance to compare the notion of a long journey of illegal immigration with that shown in Michael Winterbottom's In This World. Broomfield doesn't display Winterbottom's creativity in conveying the horrors of the journey and I began to worry that the film wouldn't take off. However, it does, largely because the central characters become more 'narrativised' -- by which I mean that they become more like characters in a fictional narrative and I began to feel for them and their terrible predicament.

The film is based on real events, so in a sense the audience knows what is going to happen, if not precisely what will happen to individual characters. Nevertheless, I found the last 20 minutes both riveting and terribly distressing. I've walked in Morecambe Bay, but not out into the estuary where I would never go without an official guide. Knowing how dangerous something is makes the suspense even worse for me.

Overall Broomfield and Jez Lewis are remarkably restrained in not trying to present a black and white world of wrong and right in the film. The story is told from the perspective of the Chinese workers. I haven't read all the details of the trials of the Chinese gangmaster and his accomplices which took place in 2006, but at first glance, the film offers something that is not a conventional crime/exploitation story and more an affecting personal drama. There is relatively little 'plot' and much more about developing understanding for the characters. Unfortunately I suspect that not many audiences will see the film in cinemas and when it appears on TV, it will be lost amidst Channel 4's reality TV wallpaper. I hope not, because it deserves to be seen and discussed.

A shaming portrayal of the way the UK benefits from cheap labour of illegal immigrants. The format is feature film, rather than fly on the wall documentary that audiences are used to, from Nick Broomfield.

It's superbly done and Broomfield has made it easy on the viewer with a very straightforward blow-by-blow account. The camera seems to go right to the heart of the lives of these unfortunate people, without being overly sentimental.

It's an arresting film, very beautifully composed and with a soundtrack that only assists in forcing you to quietly question why this happened.

It would do little Britain some good if this film was part of the national curriculum, in 'our' schools.

The dreadful plight of illegal immigrants to the U.K. has been highlighted in a number of films, including Michael Winterbottom's 'In This World' and Channel 4's miniseries 'Sex Traffic'. While Nick Broomfield was motivated by the tragedy of the deaths of Chinese cockle-pickers in Morecombe Bay to abandon his normal style (of self-led investigative documentary) to film a dramatic reconstruction of their story. He handles the transition in styles well, and his film is realistic, harrowing and marked by striking photography of Britain's ugly-beautiful underbelly. Particularly good is the portrayal of the gang-master, a villain, yet also a victim at the same time. If there's a criticism its that, judged purely as drama, the story is almost too harrowing, with no hope of redemption at the end. But of course, the events depicted actually happened and, with the exception of the final chapter, continue to happen: this is an important film, and one that asks awkward questions for those of us rich off the backs of migrant labour.

This DVD had been resting on my shelf for some months - I kept putting off viewing it because I feared it would be a depressing watch. On the contrary, I found it to be hugely involving and, at times, extremely funny. It is incredibly moving (you will have to have a pretty hard heart not to cry at some scenes) but the eye-opening and potentially 'worthy' message is communicated with a humanity that is motivating and positive rather than simply depressing.

Nick Broomfield tells the story with subtle skill. The illusion of documentary reality is almost perfect but this does not distance the viewer from the characters - we enter into their thoughts and feelings partly through the excellent and subtle use of music and partly from utterly convincing performances.

In February 2004, twenty three illegal Chinese immigrants drowned in Morecambe Bay. This film follows the journey of one immigrant, Ai Qin, who sets out from China to travel to England to make a lot of money to support her young son. The travel is expensive (£25,000) and the journey takes over six months, illegally grossing many borders by hiding in containers or secret compartments. When she arrives in London, Qin finds herself taken north where she joins a crowded squat of other Chinese people and, after purchasing fake papers, gets hard labour jobs with long hours and low wages.

I'll be honest and say that Ghosts sat on my HDD for around about eight months before I finally got to watching it – it just never felt like I was in the mood for it. Tonight I decided to watch it and in a way I still feel a bit like it was something I had to see rather than was glad that I saw. It is not a great film and I think it is worth me saying that out loud. A lot of the very positive reviews I have read have tended to focus on the importance of the topic, the scale of the problem or the human suffering involved. These are not things of Broomfield's creation nor things that the film should be credited for. In tackling these subjects I have no qualms acknowledging that the film is certainly "worthy" but this should not be mistaken for the film being brilliant.

That said, it is a good piece of work that does gain credit for highlighting the subject in a film. The making of is typically Broomfield and is a documentary style without formal script or professional actors. At times this does hurt the film because some scenes are clunky and more than a couple of performances are stiff and unnatural. Fortunately these do not badly affect the film in the main, in particular Ai Qin Lin is very convincing and touching in her turn, and many of the other main players are good. Broomfield doesn't help himself either because not only is the film slightly longer than it can bear, but he does labour his points heavily at times. In one scene we have a clumsy piece of dialogue where one characters asks where the vegetables they are illegally picking will be sent and "Asda, Sainburys, Tesco, supermarkets" is the reply. This is a crass and clumsy way to make a good point – and it does damage the point. Sadly there are several examples like that one, not least of which is the caption that declares the British Government has refused to help pay off the debts the families of the twenty-three still have, as if that is the crux of the problem.

Despite these issues the film is still quite good but, because of them, it is not as great as many would have you believe. However it is an important and worthy film and, for all its flaws I would still recommend you see it or the good it has in its making, message and topic.