Blind Shaft (2003)
"Mang jing" (original title)

Two Chinese coal miners have hit upon the perfect scam: murder one of their fellow mine workers, make the death look like an accident, and extort money from the boss to keep the incident ... See full summary »

Director:

Yang Li

Writer:

Yang Li

Stars:

Qiang Li, Baoqiang Wang, Shuangbao Wang

16 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Credited 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
Yan Li
Zhenji Liu
Yongan Mao

Storyline

Two Chinese coal miners have hit upon the perfect scam: murder one of their fellow mine workers, make the death look like an accident, and extort money from the boss to keep the incident hushed up. For their latest "mark," they choose a naive teenager from a small village, and as they prepare to carry out their newest plan, things start to get complicated...

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Plot Keywords:

death | coal | money | chinese | scam | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

China Germany Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

10 November 2005 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Hei xue: Black Snow

Filming Locations:

Yi Ma District, Henan, China

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$5,550 (USA) (6 February 2004)

Gross:

$33,272 (USA) (9 April 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bronze Age Films, Tag Spledour and Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

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

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

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".

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Connections

Referenced in Telma demain (2005)

User Reviews

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!