MovieChat Forums > Wong Gok hak yeh (2004) Discussion > No sympathy for the main characters

No sympathy for the main characters

posted 15 years ago by HenryCW
1 reply | jump to latest

In the film, the two main characters from the Mainland appeared to have many bad things to say about Hong Kong, and how they were discriminated against, etc. They appeared to be totally unaware that they themselves were the villains, and that people like them were responsible for many of the problems now facing Hong Kong. I have absolutely no sympathy for them.

Lai-fu (like his brother) was willing to take the job to go down to Hong Kong to kill someone he did not even know. In the film, it was repeatedly stressed that he did not attend school and came from a poor province in China - as if that justified everything.

Dan Dan was a prostitute who made use of her multiple-entry permit to enter Hong Kong periodicallly to practice her "profession". Other than that, she bought goods and took them back to sell in her village for profit. You see, she came from the same province as Lai-fu and so her family was poor too. As in Lai-fu's case, that justified everything. Sue - Lai-fu's girlfriend shown dying in the film - was also a prostitute and came to Hong Kong for the same reason. When Sue was seriously injured, Sue's grandmother refused any offer from social workers in Hong Kong to bring her back to her relatives in China. She kept on repeating that the village from which she came was very poor.

In the film, only the cops (with the notable exception of the trigger-happy one) showed some humanity.

[–] simian_ninja 15 years ago

"Lai-fu (like his brother) was willing to take the job to go down to Hong Kong to kill someone he did not even know. In the film, it was repeatly stressed that he did not attend school and came from a poor province in China - as if that justified everything."

I don't think it justifies anything but goes to show what kind of person gets hired for these kind of jobs. It also goes to show that he is without work due to level of qualifications and is willing to take on the job due to the fact that he was hired by somebody from his village.

"In the film, the two main characters from the Mainland appeared to have many bad things to say about Hong Kong, and how they were discriminated against, etc. They appeared to be totally unaware that they themselves were the villains, and that people like them were responsible for many of the problems now facing Hong Kong. I have absolutely no sympathy for them."

I suppose in a way Hong Kong is like a tiny little America for some people from the mainland, especially the poor ones who seek work. Having lived here all my life, I hear a lot more bad stuff said about mainland Chinese people than I have ever heard anyone say about a Hong Konger. You could put this down to the fact that I don't live on the mainland on don't have the opportunity to hear such things.

"In the film, only the cops (with the notable exception of the trigger-happy one) showed some humanity."

I wouldn't say they showed humanity, they were what they were. The fact is that the trigger-happy one shot what could have been an innocent man, they then cover it up in order to protect not only their own standing but Milo says to protect his parents.

The characters in this film are a product of their environment, the two mainlanders are a product of theirs - poverty, and more importantly crime - people born into those situations tend to navigate around those situations.

Either way, awesome film.

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