Shanghai Vice

Phil Agland, the expert on exotic worlds ("Baka: People of the Rainforest", "China: Beyond the Clouds"), grants us extraordinary insights into the future global metropolis of Shanghai. It took three years to shoot this 7-hour-long Channel 4 production. We meet ordinary people, opinion-makers, elite units and drug cartels that are all trying to do one thing: get used to the new boomtown realities of Shanghai after decades of isolation. This series is a rare stroke of genius: by using fictional elements such as plot-lines and character development, Agland rises above the purely observational and, in doing so, tears down the cultural barriers that all so often block our view. We discern more directly what these people are really doing, we can empathize with them and even feel the tension they are experiencing at this juncture in the city's history. "Poetic, intelligent, funny and tragic... a shining example of what documentary is all about." (The Scotsman)