Mang jing (2003)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Yang Li

Writer:

Yang Li (writer)

Release Date:

1 October 2003 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Two Chinese coal miners have hit upon the perfect scam: murder one of their fellow mine workers, make the death look like an accident...

Plot Keywords:

Scam | Mine | Money | Murder | Miner

Awards:

12 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Qiang Li	...	Song Jinming (as Yi Xiang Li)
Baoqiang Wang	...	Yuan Fengming
Shuangbao Wang	...	Tang Zhaoyang
Jing Ai	...	Xiao Hong
Zhenjiang Bao	...	First boss
Sun Wei	...	Tang Zhaoxia
Jun Zhao	...	Miss Ma
Yining Wang	...	Mamasan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Li Cao
Yang Cao
Zhimei Dong
Changwen Jan
Zhenji Liu
Yan Li
Yongan Mao
Walhua Nie
Haiying Sun
Qincen Sun
Haiman Wu
Xin Xu
Sengyi Yue
Hongqiang Zhang
Lulu Zhang
Hong Zhao
Lei Zhi

Also Known As:

Blind Shaft (International: English title)
Blinder Schacht (Germany)
Hei xue: Black Snow

Runtime:

92 min | Argentina:95 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Country:

China | Germany | Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Hong Kong:IIB | UK:15 | Argentina:13 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:Unrated | Norway:11

Filming Locations:

Yi Ma District, Henan Province, China

Company:

Tag Spledour and Films

Trivia:

Based on Mainland Chinese writer Xingang Liu's short novel "Shen Mu" (Sacred Wood). The French translation of it is titled as its film adaptation, "Le puits aveugle".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Telma demain (2005)

Mao is rolling in his grave - "Goodfellas" on a small scale

"Blind Shaft" is a good/great film about two con men. One of the con men is more vicious than the other, and has lost all feelings for other human beings. The other less-vicious con man still has some pangs of conscience, but both will do whatever it takes to survive.

This is like a small "Goodfellas" in that the two crooks, and the mine bosses they work for, are corrupt, and have no qualms about criminally exploited those around them. They live in a world of crime, and act accordingly. The Chinese street scenes ring with authenticity, no Westerners are present, this the China that hundreds of millions of Chinese see every day - poor, impoverished, corrupt, desperate, where the Communist party has long since abandoned Communism, and Socialism is just an empty slogan.

Nevertheless, there are good, compassionate people in this cynical environment. This film is really about one man's "redemption", the less negative of the two con man, and his realization that his destructive path in life is wrong. I'm writing cryptically because I don't want to spoil what the con is, I recommend this film highly, and I think it will play just as well on the small screen as on the large. See it on the big screen or DVD, but just see it!