1981 Hong Kong Classic Movie - Father and Son 父子情 Review
This review is for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the Cantonese
dialect of the Chinese language.
The movie starts with a scene of a graying old man having collected
a letter from overseas.The letter is a notice confirming that his son
Lau Ka Hing had finally graduated from an American University.
Overjoyed the old man races home to break the news to his family.
He has to climb many flights of steps on the way home as the flats
had no lifts.Unfortunately he suffers a heart attack and dies before
he could reach home.An all too familiar story?
The scene then shifts to a young graduate finally returning home after
graduation to rejoin his family.
We are then brought to his early schooldays where he had to change
school five times because of being expelled.The young Lau had little
interests in academic work but loved movies and filming.
There are then a series of misadventures as when he nearly burned the
family home down playing with candles or when he was caught stealing
money from the charity box in order to buy tickets to go to the movies.
Eventually he fails his A levels and his younger sister who had to forego
further studies because of the father's limited finances had to work as
a nurse.The father was determined that his only son would be able to
continue his tertiary education and not end up like himself working as a
clerk and denied promotion in the company because of his lack of tertiary
education.He had to accept low pay and even resort to pilfering toilet paper
to take home.Most societies to this day do not provide welfare or safety nets
of any sort.
Even the eldest sister was convinced by his father to look for a husband
who could help finance Lau's education overseas,this which she did dutifully.
In those places then there were limited University places in Asian countries
and many had to continue studying overseas on their parents' scholarships.
All this time Lau was not to enthusiastic about tertiary education and
continued to pursue his interests in films.He even auditioned for a role in the
movies and borrowed a Super 8 camera from a friend to film some war
movies.On one occasion he was confronted by his father as why he was
nonchalant about failing his A levels.The father demanded to see what Lau
was carrying and in the scuffle the borrowed Super8 camera plus films of the
war movies was destroyed when the camera fell down the flats.
Eventually Lau's sister convinced Lau to fulfill his father's dream that his
only son would be able to enter University and Lau finally agreed.This was
at the expense of his younger sister who had to discontinue studying and her
elder sister whose marriage had a condition that her husband would finance
Lau's studies in the US.
So the story ends with the family seeing off Lau at the airport.
The movie reflected the conditions of families in Hong Kong and other
overseas Chinese in South East Asian countries in the 70s:
1) The emphasis on tertiary education as a means to a better life which
remains so to this day in Chinese society.With the difference nowadays
of Tertiary education being available to nearly everyone as long as they paid
for it.
2) The preferential treatment of sons over daughters by Chinese parents causing
China today to suffer a shortage of females.
3) The difficulty of making a living in Hong Kong at that time before it was
absorbed by China in 1997 which by now has allowed them access to a bigger
market.The reality is that China being the economic powerhouse it is today has
provided a lot of previously unimagined opportunities to Chinese people everywhere.
If not for that progress most Chinese people would have remained 2nd class Chink
citizens of the world everywhere.
4) Poor career counselling or immaturity of adolescents as to the reality
of a capitalist society and industry which remains to this day.
And so on and so forth. Although portraying Hong Kong, the same
problems beset most families in Asia at that time (especially overseas Chinese)
and is an all too familiar story.
The younger generation, the gen x,y,z today grow up in times of plenty
and take for granted what their parents strived so hard to achieve before to
give them a better life.
A tribute to fathers everywhere who worked so hard to provide a future
for their children,though they could try to be fair in their treatment of both
sons and daughters. A tribute also to the tight-knit structure of Chinese
families whose siblings make sacrifices to help one another.
Perhaps this film would make a great Father's Day or Sister's day movie.
Many of us in Asia of that generation owe our success one way or another
to these family ties and sacrifices.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX7GGHC-AYQ
