I surfed across this randomly when looking for stuff relating to the film Besieged City. I thought this person would write about film, but it was more like the film inspired him to write some of his thoughts relating to violence among students (the movie is about gangs of kids in a Hong Kong New Territories housing project).
看了电影，我只想说，他哥太软弱了。
我也是做哥哥的人，自己的兄弟被欺负冷眼旁观简直不可容忍。
本来生在那样的家庭里，还有个那样的父亲。两兄弟就已经很可怜了，然而却不知道相濡以沫，更是可悲。
纵观全剧，只要前期有一个人能站出来帮助弟弟，可能就没有这部电影了。

另外，这就是现实。吃人的社会不是你吃人就是人吃你。
你不吃人？OK。那么自然有人吃你而活。

一切的线索都是必然的结果，所以之前弟弟的环境造就之后的必然。
有人说警察，学校？有个P用。
老师也就是上班赚钱吃饭，他们就是混日子，一切以利益为主。难道给自己惹麻烦？
也许有个别会说几句，那又有什么用？今天老师能按下去，明天呢？老师不再照样欺负你。而且会更狠！（如果有人打小报告，我就是要把人打残的人。）
警察更是笑话。
警察会管你学生之间打架闹事？你不是市长儿子，不是大款儿子，也没杀人事件他们有功夫管你？

有人恬不知耻的说夸张了，说只是少部分？只能说你们没有看过听过经历过。
记得我上学那会儿，和电影里也差不多。但也算有些差别，因为内地对毒品或者‘糖’‘粉’管的严些，那些东西很少会去碰，可是身边也有吸的人。
就校园暴力而言，我所在从小学到中专为止，班上总有几个是被虐的对象，谁都可以欺负他。吃屎的事情亦有人干过。
当然我比较中立，一般不去管也不想管。
可是不去管默默的向片中哥哥那样的角色你不找麻烦也会有麻烦来找你。
记得我的一个兄弟比较狂的是，初二那年路过高二班级，在走廊上有个高二的撞了他一下被拉到厕所暴打一顿，结果被告了。
学校不想闹大压下来，我朋友家陪了几百医药费，结果那天晚放晚自习，那高二的o(∩_∩)o…被火砖敲脑袋。我朋友放话他可以随便去报警，只要不怕治安十五天之后他会不会再被敲。
高二男生沉默了。

要介绍一点，在我们这个小地方，我那朋友在外面有大哥罩。
我和我那朋友从小学到初中三年都在一起，每次他出事我虽然从不动手也会去看看。所以我说电影里的故事不算夸张，只有少许政策不一的问题偏差。
当然不想找麻烦麻烦也会来找我。
也许我沉默的样子让人看着好欺负，学校里高一的一老大就找上了我，介绍一下，那小子也算在我们那小镇上有些关系，他的哥哥算是说得上话的。
结果我被打了……55555.只能说有些轻敌被堵了个正着。虽然我被打是没办法，毕竟他那方拉了十多个人，不过我相信那小子伤得比我轻不了。。。哼哼，我对他也下狠手打。
第二天就有，校门口四十号人要来堵我。
正巧，老虎不发威当我病猫了，我正想找回场子他来的比我还快。
一个电话我找了我表哥，那小子的靠山是见我表哥还要点头哈腰的角色。结果对方拉来的四十号人，在我表哥一句话之下，统一倒戈，矛头指向了对方。那小子连他那靠山听说一共缝了六十二针，脸被啤酒瓶砸破相了。

（以上全属亲身经历，并非杜撰，不信者也随便。）

我还是默默的装B从不惹事，不过自从出了那件事后，我也全校出名了，结果再没人惹我，我也到平淡的过完了初中三年，平时娱乐活动还是跟着去看我那朋友怎么嚣张。
我那朋友名气到也越来越大，想跟他混的小弟也越来越多。

这却是一座‘围城’
外面的人想进去，里面的人想出来。

当我出那件事后，有很多同学朋友想跟我的，他们执着的想出名，想横着走，想看谁不顺眼就打谁。

当我离开那座学校的一年后，我听说我那朋友腿被打断了，下半生要靠轮椅走路…

If you’re a fan of the “gutter-trawling” alienated youths genre of film, you should find this one enjoyable: and I did not intend to be ironic there, because I actually think this was a good film. The story centers around two brothers: the younger one gets relentlessly and heartlessly picked on at school–beaten up, all the time, by boys and girls (the latter, despite their nice skirts and uniforms, are basically triads-in-training–like many mobsters, they like stuffing heads in urinals and toilets). The older brother sees this and does nothing. It gets worse: the younger one is physically abused by his father at home, and again, the older one does nothing. With no one to protect and stand up for him, the younger brother disappears.

He’s not heard from again until the police tell the elder brother that his brother is in the hospital after attempted suicide, and is also the main suspect in the homicide of a girl affiliated with a young triad boss/mobster. The older brother soon finds himself entangled with these triad members, who say his younger brother made off with a huge stash of drugs. He then tries to piece together what exactly his younger brother had been up to during the last few years.

What he finds out is that his brother has become part of the seamy underbelly of New Territories housing development. These are outsiders and misfits, the kids that slip through the cracks of the system. And of course, to make ends meet they resort to stealing and selling drugs.

I always feel conflicted about movies like this: the inherent seriousness of the subject seems somehow at odds with the often stylized camera work and pacing. The highly saturated, bold, and contrasty cinematography reminds me of Infernal Affairs （無間道）where you see a lot of these cyan-green tinted shots. Of course, it’s more than just eye-candy: what you’re getting is not the objective fly-in-the-wall take on what happens, but some reflection of the subjective reality of the characters. I don’t want to suggest that the style is amateurish or bad, just not necessarily what one might expect of a film that touches on some very serious issues. My proclivity for neo-realism, documentary style movies a la the Dardennes Brothers is what I am getting at, but I suppose it’s not a big deal. I’ve just found this type of style has become idiomatic in Hong Kong and reminds one of those Hollywood films that also deal with people on the wrong side of the tracks or the bad side of town: to a certain extent, you have to deal in cliches. You don’t explore the complexity of parental abuse, or why kids beat up other kids.

I suppose that much of it has to do with the fact that so much of what happens in this film is alien to me. Hong Kong–you’re thinking banks and dim sum, wine bars and electronics shops. The harbor, the peak. You don’t think about father-daughter incest, much less expect to see (dimly), a father humping a daughter and getting her pregnant. Here the heart and mind begin to part ways: your mind is telling you that yes, all these things do exist, but this film is like a potluck roast of all the bad shit that happens in life and cramming all of it together makes the suspension of disbelief a wee bit harder. On the other hand, your heart is trying to feel sympathy for the characters and revulsion for all the cruelty that you see. That’s why realistic, naturalistic performances and style tend to work better for me: they start off by looking more “real” (or verite), and tend to shy away from overdramatizing.

The film has a few plot twists and turns, which I think makes the film much better than it might be were it to rely purely on the “moods” and portrayals of everyday life for teenage dropouts. With regards to the latter: the naturalistic performances by the actors really did make those moments shine–all the times they stole things, and made fun of each other, got high, fought and then made up. These dropouts are a motley bunch and for the most part, they all looked it–none of the made-up pretty-boys and Canto-pop queens that dominate most Hong Kong films. I am guessing that they used many non-actors, and perhaps some of them are even from that area of Hong Kong.

All in all: one of the more interesting films and directors (劉國昌) out of Hong Kong these days. I’ve heard that the director’s other films are quite interesting as well and am keen on filling what seems like an inexcusable gap in my Hong Kong film repertoire.

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