The Shanghai Document
Director:
Yakov Bliokh
Year:
1928
Rating: 6.0
This look at the city of Shanghai comes from a
Russian director (Yakov Bliokh) during a visit in 1927. It is silent and
has a purpose. Everything is looked at through the perspective of class -
the imperialists, the bourgeoise, the workers and the poor. That aspect of
it has less resonance today - the capitalists won - but just seeing Shanghai
in 1927 is rather fascinating. When the director is not scoring political
points, there are great street scenes - food, entertainment (one fellow is
displaying the Drunken style of martial arts, another is flashing swords,
another putting on a puppet show), the chaos of people and cars and rickshaws
clashing for space. He also shows us Chinese at various types of work, the
harbor and the junks and commerce. The rich at leisure and the very poor
in squalor. Then there is the life within the foreign enclaves of the British,
Americans and French where life is good. Full of parties, children at play
and in the background military forces to keep the good life safe and secure.
1927 was also a time of civil turmoil in Shanghai - strikes, street violence,
marches and revolution in the air. The director captures some of this as
well. Much more was soon to come to Shanghai but the director had left by
then.