"Blind Shaft" is a gritty, socially conscious drama that takes place in China. It is the feature directorial debut of Li Yang, a former documentary filmmaker. He also produced the film and wrote the script.

Because of the natural acting styles, on-location sets, and sympathetic portrayal of the working class, the film is reminiscent of the Italian Neo-Realist films such as "La Terra Trema." It is also as rough, raw and riveting as many of the B American films of the ‘50s. Yang is good with actors and he navigates, with hidden cameras, through the seedier areas in China, such as brothels, dirty markets, and dive bars.

The film deservedly has gotten critical acclaim. It won the Silver Bear Award in Berlin, and it also won best narrative feature at the Tribeca Film Festival.

"Blind Shaft" boldly exposes the deplorable conditions that exist in Chinese mines. It mostly takes place 700 meters underground in mines in Northwest China where workers often endure astounding hardships. Some of them have been known to work shifts that last for days. According to the director Li Yang, each year almost 10,000 miners a year die at the mines.

In the film Song and Tang are two underpaid mine workers in an illegal Chinese coalmine. One day, they stumble upon a perfect way to make quick cash. When another worker is accidentally killed, they pretend he died in a mining accident in order to collect blood money from the company.

The two men befriend a young man named Yuan Fengming, an extremely likeable sixteen-year- old who has had a hard life. He was forced to quit school after his father died, and the bookish boy wants to return to his studies after he has put away some money. Song and Tang get him a job at a mine with them. Yuan is the only miner with the potential for a good future.

Tang and Song claim to be his relatives so they can collect on his death too. They try to make the sheltered young man’s last days pleasurable, and they even hire a prostitute to help him lose his virginity. But things don’t go as they plan, leading to a highly unexpected and ironic ending.

"Blind Shaft" is fairly unpolished in terms of technique. But the suspenseful plotline and realistic performances make the film well worth seeing.