Blind Shaft

Based on familiar scandals in China's mines, Blind Shaft is a raw Chinese film about two ruthless grifters who, by pretending to be the relatives of miners who die in "accidents" they've staged, collect money from the mine owners. Mines owners pay because the mines are operating illegally or with substandard safety.

An unsparing camera follows the two men and their next victim, an innocent 16-year old who's trying to earn money to get back into school or get the school fees for his sister.

In a karaoke type singalong in a brothel, one of the grifters selects "Long Live Socialism" on the karaoke machine. As the men start to sing one of the girls asks if he's a hick. He's singing the old lyrics? Old lyrics? The new lyrics (according to the subtitles) include "The capitalist came back with their American dollars."

In one of the nicer touches in the film, one of the men who has misgivings about this particular scam tries to give him a last good taste of life with session with a prostitute. The boy bolts, but later, by chance, meets her again at an office where both have goneto wire money home.

The very fact that the film got made speaks volumes about changes in China. There is no musical sound track. There are no special effects. The production values are low. The story seems to have been caught on home video and seems just as real. The depiction of the underclass and the relentless drive for money makes its case more than any proletarian socialist realism film ever could.