''Blind Shaft'' () is a
2003 film about a pair of brutal
con artist
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have ...
s operating in the illegal
coal mine
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
s of present-day
northern China. The film was written and
directed
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
by
Li Yang (李杨), and is based on
Chinese writer Liu Qingbang
/ ( or ) is an East Asian surname. pinyin: in Mandarin Chinese, in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. The character originally meant 'kill', but is now used only as a surname. It is listed 252nd in the classic text ...
's short novel ''
Shen Mu'' (''Sacred Wood'').
Plot
Most coal mines in China are worked by migrant workers who are forced to endure back-breaking, dangerous work in order to send money home. Some of them have additional schemes of their own.
Song Jinming (played by
Li Yixiang
Li Yixiang (), also known as Li Qiang (李强), is a Chinese actor. He appeared in movies such as ''Ji Quan Bu Ning'', ''Crazy Lottery''. In 2002, he starred as one of the two murderous con men in director Li Yang (director), Li Yang's ''Blind Sha ...
) and Tang Zhaoyang (
Wang Shuangbao
Wang may refer to:
Names
* Wang (surname) (王), a common Chinese surname
* Wāng (汪), a less common Chinese surname
* Titles in Chinese nobility
* A title in Korean nobility
* A title in Mongolian nobility
Places
* Wang River in Thailand ...
) are professional con artists, running an intricate scam they have perfected through repeated practice. They find a naive young man looking for work, and convince him that they have arranged three lucrative coal mining jobs for themselves and a relative. The relative has not arrived in time, leaving a gap which they generously offer to the victim, on the condition that he pretend to be the missing relative. After a few days of working in the mine, they murder the victim, and by making the murder look like an accident, they use his death to extort compensation money from the mine's management.
After introducing the scam, the film follows the pair as they repeat it on a new victim, sixteen-year-old Yuan Fengming (played by
Wang Baoqiang
Wang Baoqiang (; born 29 May 1984) is a Chinese actor, martial artist and director. His debut role was that of Yuan Fengming in the movie '' Blind Shaft'', for which he shared the Best New Performer prize at the 2003 Golden Horse Awards.
Ear ...
). Tensions arise as Song begins to have reservations, touched by the victim's youth and innocence and the uncanny resemblance of Yuan's father to their first victim of the film, while Tang remains focused on making money for himself and his own family.
Production history
Most of the filming took place 700 meters underground on the border between the
Hebei
Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0 ...
and
Shanxi provinces of northern China. Li and his crew were harassed and threatened during the filming.
Reception
''Blind Shaft'' has won at least twelve awards, including a
Silver Bear
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fes ...
for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at
53rd Berlin International Film Festival
The 53rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 6–16, 2003. The festival opened with musical film ''Chicago'' by Rob Marshall and closed with Martin Scorsese's ''Gangs of New York'', both films played out of competiti ...
in 2003.
Ban in China
''Blind Shaft'' has not been approved for release in China.
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
noted how "directors are eager to comment on the rapid changes in Chinese society. But films such as Li Yang's ''Blind Shaft'' (a bleak, compelling picture about life in China's illegal coal mines)... were not shown to local audiences even though they had been acclaimed abroad."
The director has stated that although he is not sure exactly why the film was banned in China, he believes the film's content has "no political stigma" attached to it, noting that the novel received China's highest literary award, the
Lao She Literary Prize __NOTOC__
Lao may refer to:
Laos
* Something of, from, or related to Laos, a country in Southeast Asia
* Lao people (people from Laos, or of Lao descent)
* The Lao language
* Lao script, the writing system used to write the Lao language
** Lao (U ...
.
Discussing the film's themes, Li emphasizes the universal, human elements:
See also
*
Wang Binyu Wang Binyu (; April 30, 1977 – October 19, 2005), was a Chinese migrant labourer executed for murder in China in 2005. His case attracted some sympathy within China and raised inequality issues.
History
Born in a poor family in Gansu, Wang B ...
(a Chinese migrant worker)
*
Chinese New Left
The Chinese New Left () is a term used in the People's Republic of China to describe a diverse range of left-wing political philosophies that emerged in the 1990s that are critical of the economic reforms instituted under Deng Xiaoping, which ...
References
External links
*
* {{Amg movie, 282193, Blind Shaft
A film reviewAnother film reviewA BBC report of a real-life equivalent in 2000(official Chinese media, 2006)
2003 films
Chinese drama films
2003 drama films
Films based on short fiction
Films set in China
2000s Mandarin-language films
Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution
2003 directorial debut films