Hot Docs 2020: Hong Kong Moments

Our understanding of events in foreign nations are largely shaped through media—legacy, new, and social. Unless you have a friend living in the country or are there yourself, you’re at a remove, and so it can be difficult to discern what the real story is “on the ground.” For this reason more than anything, Hong Kong Moments is useful viewing for Western audiences.

Of course, documentaries are themselves media, and though they may relate facts they are always told through some form of narrative and from particular vantage points. Filmmaker Bing Zhou seems to recognize this with Hong Kong Moments. Rather than claiming to relate an objective account of the protests in Hong Kong, Zhou’s strategy for the film foregrounds narration and point of view. 

Zhou chooses to focus Hong Kong Moments on seven different Hongkongers of diverse political viewpoints in order to tell, in broad strokes, a multifaceted story of what is going on. What emerges is a larger picture of Hong Kong in 2019 than just the conflict between the protestors and the police. We meet a taxi driver, a fresh pro-democracy (i.e. pro-protestor) candidate running for district council, an incumbent pro-Beijing candidate, a police officer who works the riot squad, a radical protester whose face we never see (and whose voice is altered), a tea shop owner who supports the police, and an EMS volunteer, who is sympathetic to the protestors and shows his support by bandaging their wounds and rinsing their eyes of tear gas. 

The footage appears to be almost entirely original, with little use of online or news videos. The quality of video is high. I’m curious about the logistics of filming, following all seven people over three days in 2019, which suggests a large crew. The first day covers a series of protests on 21 September 2019; the second covers October 1, the 70th National Day of the People’s Republic of China, a day touching on the core issues of the protests; and the third is something of a prologue, depicting the district council elections of 24 November 2019. Elegant drone footage of the city streets supplements the character studies, giving the movie a wider scope and epic feel. Small character arcs are presented through editing, but they never feel forced. For instance, no one has a radical change of perspective. I was pleased the character stories never struck me as fabricated, embellished, or overly polished.

The most surprising take away was seeing how the political dynamics current in Hong Kong reflect aspects of our own situation in North America. Hong Kong is presented as a deeply polarized country, with people debating the protests and the latest outrages from their entrenched viewpoints, galvanized by provocative reportage and viral videos. The polarization is also largely generational, with those born after the ’90s being most of the bodies in the streets. We also see the impact of social media and its use as a tool of guerrilla warfare, with radical youth doxxing police identities and threatening their families online. 

Intriguingly, we also see the ubiquity of horse race gambling among the older generation, while the youth are glued to the social streams on their smartphones, showing the latest events. Is Zhou suggesting that one generation is not politically engaged, just wanting ordinary life, with stable jobs and some diversions? Perhaps. On the other hand, the juxtaposition raises the question: which activity, betting on horses or politics filtered through social media, is a more real engagement with lived reality? 

Hong Kong Moments ends on a somewhat optimistic note, after the pro-democracy camp wins big in the elections of November 2019. The election is presented as an ostensible victory, but we are also made to empathize with Benny’s (the pro-Beijing candidate’s) loss. The film seems to gently support the protests, but this is certainly not a work of political activism. Its emphasis is on documenting more than persuasion. Indeed, viewed in light of recent events, such as the implementation of the Beijing-led Hong Kong National Security Law, the optimistic tone of the film’s ending takes on more tragic tones.

I was expecting a story about the protestors. Instead, Hong Kong Moments tells a story about a special city state. Interestingly, almost all the characters, no matter their views of mainland China, express a desire for Hong Kong to remain Hong Kong, that is to say, its own unique place, no matter its larger political affiliations.

8 out of 10

Hong Kong Moments (2020, Hong Kong/Germany)

Directed by Bing Zhou.