Cinema
Boat People
投奔怒海
Ann Hui · 1982
Synopsis
Three years after the end of the war, the Japanese photographer Shiomi Akutagawa returns to Vietnam, invited to report on the new life. Guided by Party officials, he visits a new economic zone where everything seems in order. Yet he begins to doubt what he is being shown: behind the displayed enthusiasm, he discovers poverty, hunger and police repression. In Da Nang, he befriends a teenage girl, Cam Nuong, and her brothers, whose lives he follows for a report.
Context
The film closes the trilogy that Ann Hui devoted to Vietnam. It was shot on Hainan island with the agreement of Beijing, which had just fought against Vietnam; it was the first Hong Kong film shot in mainland China. Presented out of competition at Cannes in 1983, it was held by many to be propaganda against Hanoi, which the director rejected, and Taiwan banned it along with the rest of her work. The Standard and Time Out note that it was read as expressing Hong Kong's anxiety over the 1997 handover, a reading that Ann Hui denied according to Time Out.
Who it is for
A drama of about an hour and three quarters, spoken in Cantonese, Vietnamese and Japanese; rereleased in France in 2025 in a restored version.
Prizes and reception
It won five prizes at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 1983, including Best Film and Best Director, and was a box-office success in Hong Kong.
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