| Produced at Seasonal, Ng See-Yuen co-wrote this social drama detailing the situation of Vietnam refugees trying to make it into Hong Kong or any kind of land. Initially a bit tricky to follow, not only due to the cropped full frame print, but co-directors Keung Chi-Ming & Tung Liu achieves focus very late in their story. There's a plethora of characters featured but in the end there's an actual focus on a very few and that's when the narrative starts to form. The writing allows for some hideously over the top symbolic gestures about how refugees view their fellow man adapting to a higher class lifestyle but a chilling nature comes with the proceedings as well. Not only violence is in your face but the notion of these social destitute's grabbing every opportunity there is results in the more poignant passages. In particular a scene where hordes of people are looting the possessions of a recently diseased. Eventually part of the film takes on the feeling of a pre-cursor to Long Arm Of The Law and the role for the star of that film, Lam Wai, here in Without A Promised Land begins expanding to a fine degree. On the surface seen as corrupting a young boy via his violent ways, it is a preparation for innocence to go out into a form of adulthood at the expense of the death of others, which certainly rings true of realism. Without A Promised Land isn't remarkable or balls-grabbing social commentary but what's said, however minor it is, feels warranted. |
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