Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 5:40 pm
I thought I would open a new topic about this film, which is a drama-documentary about illegal Chinese immigrants working as cockel pickers on Morecambe Bay, who drowned when trapped by rising tides, in 2004.
The film seems to be getting good reviews, from surprising quarters. Mark Kermode liked the film (and chose it as his film of the week, just over Last King of Scotland) in his podcast, and he had previously talked about how much he hated Nick Broomfield's previous documentary work.
I would agree somewhat with that. I sometimes feel that Broomfield's work bears the traces of what current reality television has picked up - a use of his camera to observe events while seemingly acting innocent as to the effects his presence is having on his subjects. I also find some of his work unfocused, such as in Kurt And Courtney, the Heidi Fleiss film, or the second Aileen Wuornos film, which seemed to have no other point but to watch her last moments, compared to the first which at least looked at her crimes. I prefer the films where he has been provided with a subject by the environment he has chosen, such as Chicken Ranch, Soldier Girls, Fetishes, Driving Me Crazy, or by an actual aim, such as exploring the deaths of Biggie and Tupac.
However in a strange way I also like his documentaries because really the only subject is Broomfield himself, however narcissistic and detrimental to an insight into his supposed subjects that may be! For example the pursuit (futile or not) of Courtney Love, Eugene Terreblanche, Maggie Thatcher, or his search for what exactly his film is going to be about as he is making it, are the most important aspects to take away from viewing his work. Along with his reaction to capital punishment or his conservatism in literally climbing the wall when threatened with a whip at the end of Fetishes!
The Nick Broomfield: Early Works set released by Optimum is worth getting, as it shows the evolution of this style from the classical detatched observer of Who Cares?, Behind The Rent Strike and Proud To Be British to Driving Me Crazy, where we spend a lot of time looking at the behind the scenes deals taking place to continue the filming and the way he is affecting the rehearsals of the musical.
Kermode was saying how Ghosts, being a dramatised version of real events, feels much more successful than his 'real' documentaries, and I would suggest that is because the dramatisation has allowed Broomfield to remove his presence from in front of the camera, stopping it from being overpowered by being all about him and his reaction (which I guess will still be present in the editorial choices he makes anyway).
Along with that surprising review, I also read a positive review in the anti-immigrant, right wing newspaper par excellence, The Mail on Sunday, which I'll quote here (hopefully I won't have broken any sort of copyright laws by reproducing it, if I have message me and I'll remove it or produce a summary). The review was by Matthew Bond:
The last thing that has come to my attention about the film came from my local television news who were saying that the film has been controversial for suggesting that the Chinese workers were working through the night not just because they were less likely to be seen by the authorities, but also because they had been threatened with physical violence by the legitimate cockle pickers during the day.
The film seems to be getting good reviews, from surprising quarters. Mark Kermode liked the film (and chose it as his film of the week, just over Last King of Scotland) in his podcast, and he had previously talked about how much he hated Nick Broomfield's previous documentary work.
I would agree somewhat with that. I sometimes feel that Broomfield's work bears the traces of what current reality television has picked up - a use of his camera to observe events while seemingly acting innocent as to the effects his presence is having on his subjects. I also find some of his work unfocused, such as in Kurt And Courtney, the Heidi Fleiss film, or the second Aileen Wuornos film, which seemed to have no other point but to watch her last moments, compared to the first which at least looked at her crimes. I prefer the films where he has been provided with a subject by the environment he has chosen, such as Chicken Ranch, Soldier Girls, Fetishes, Driving Me Crazy, or by an actual aim, such as exploring the deaths of Biggie and Tupac.
However in a strange way I also like his documentaries because really the only subject is Broomfield himself, however narcissistic and detrimental to an insight into his supposed subjects that may be! For example the pursuit (futile or not) of Courtney Love, Eugene Terreblanche, Maggie Thatcher, or his search for what exactly his film is going to be about as he is making it, are the most important aspects to take away from viewing his work. Along with his reaction to capital punishment or his conservatism in literally climbing the wall when threatened with a whip at the end of Fetishes!
The Nick Broomfield: Early Works set released by Optimum is worth getting, as it shows the evolution of this style from the classical detatched observer of Who Cares?, Behind The Rent Strike and Proud To Be British to Driving Me Crazy, where we spend a lot of time looking at the behind the scenes deals taking place to continue the filming and the way he is affecting the rehearsals of the musical.
Kermode was saying how Ghosts, being a dramatised version of real events, feels much more successful than his 'real' documentaries, and I would suggest that is because the dramatisation has allowed Broomfield to remove his presence from in front of the camera, stopping it from being overpowered by being all about him and his reaction (which I guess will still be present in the editorial choices he makes anyway).
Along with that surprising review, I also read a positive review in the anti-immigrant, right wing newspaper par excellence, The Mail on Sunday, which I'll quote here (hopefully I won't have broken any sort of copyright laws by reproducing it, if I have message me and I'll remove it or produce a summary). The review was by Matthew Bond:
A very impressive review - I'll be interested to see what others think of it!Nick Broomfield is a documentary maker who's asked questions of Courtney Love, Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss and death row inmate Aileen Wuornos. But here, he employs more traditional techniques to show how 23 Chinese cockle pickers came to drown in Morecambe Bay in 2004.
Broomfield follows the trail of a young Chinese woman, Ai Qin, lured from her home in Fujian province to England by the promise of making money for her baby and family. After a six month journey, she's whisked from the back of a lorry and taken to a tiny house in Norfolk with 12 other illegal workers.
Bribing local job centre workers - all foreigners too - gets them work at a meat factory (scenes that will put you off chicken for life) or pulling up spring onions for supermarkets. The pay is poor and it becomes clear that the debts the illegal workers owe the Snakehead gangs who smuggled them in will never be met.
Broomfield shoots with up-close urgency and authenticity, using the Mandarin language, natural light and non-professional actors - there's a remarkable lead performance by Ai Qin Lin - giving the film a raw, documentary feel.
On the surface, this seems a typical liberal work, pleading understanding for illegal immigrants, but there's also a cry for Britain here - frustration and incomprehension at how this situation came into being, at how supermarket culture hides evil practice. Ghosts may be what the Chinese call white people, but the spectre of a lost England also haunts this film.
Ghosts is most remarkable, however, for the final scenes in Morecambe. Broomfield reconstructs the black horror of the encroaching seas at night, the crash of waves pierced by the screams of people helplessly drowning far from home.
The last thing that has come to my attention about the film came from my local television news who were saying that the film has been controversial for suggesting that the Chinese workers were working through the night not just because they were less likely to be seen by the authorities, but also because they had been threatened with physical violence by the legitimate cockle pickers during the day.
Not mine, honest! What can I say - I'm the black sheep of a conservative family (I think I annoy my family sometimes by commenting on how Blair is a better Thatcherite than Thatcher was, and no wonder he gets on so well with right wing Bush! That gets a reaction! 
), so that paper is around the house. It was a slow Sunday so I flipped through it! It is good for a laugh though! I do usually look at the film reviews each week and remember a few months ago Chris Tookey (the guy who led the campaign against Cronenberg's Crash) had a terrible time when he had to review Rabbit Ears, Eros, Jackass Two, Dirty Sanchez and Destricted in the same week, gave them all 'turkey' ratings, despaired at the state of the world and declared that he was off on holiday for a month to recuperate! Poor guy! 
