On February 5, 2004, the fast-rising tides of Lancashire's Morecambe Bay claimed the lives of 23 immigrant Chinese cockle pickers.
The tragedy forms the backdrop to this second foray into fiction for Nick Broomfield, best known for his documentaries on tabloid-headlining Americans; most notably Kurt & Courtney, Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam, Biggie and Tupac, and two films about serial killer Aileen 'Monster' Wuornos.
Ghosts (the Chinese nickname for westerners) is a less sensational affair, though Broomfield's use of non-professionals and a naturalistic style makes for an authentic and affecting experience.
In a journey representative of many, young mother Ai Qin (Ai Qin Lin, whose own story the film mirrors) leaves Fujian Province believing she can make her fortune in Britain.
Six months later, she is anxious and unhappy, working in a food-processing plant in Norfolk and sharing floorspace with eleven other Chinese illegals in a modern-terrace dump owned by a stereotypical bling-and-BMW skinhead.
Matters of work and rent are taken care of by Mr Lin (superbly played by restaurant owner Zhan Yu), who tells Ai Qin that she would make better money in London as a "masseur".
Though she will never be able to pay back the human traffickers - ‘snakeheads’- she declines the offer. With the authorities breathing down their necks, she opts instead to join Lin and her fellow unfortunates as they go north in search of cockling work...
The events in Morecambe were heartbreakingly avoidable. There are no excuses for exploitation and intolerance. And there are thousands deserving of refugee status, maybe more. These are incontrovertible truths.
Yet Ai Qin's situation in China is far from desperate. She naively pays ruthless money lenders a lot of money knowing that she has no legal right to enter or work in another country.
Broomfield is a little naïve himself if he expects us to sympathise when Ai Qin and co complain of being overtaxed. At least he shows that there are plenty of 'ghosts' who can only get menial work too.
If nothing else, this flawed but worthy film ought to make us think about the human cost of the stuff in our supermarket trolleys.
Elliott Noble
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