Thoughts from the committee
One of the masterworks of the Hong Kong New Wave, Boat People is a searing humanist drama about the plight of Vietnamese people in the early years of communism following the Vietnam War.
The film follows a Japanese photojournalist (George Lam) who has travelled to Vietnam to document the country’s heroic return following the war, but quickly becomes disillusioned with the staged photo opportunities presented to him. As he befriends a young girl and her poverty-stricken family, the violent reality of Vietnamese life under communism becomes clear to him.
Boat People’s release was met with controversy and has been subject to many different political interpretations. This was partly due to the film’s production ties to the People’s Republic of China, it being the first Hong Kong film shot in mainland China. The uncertainty surrounding the film’s politics were enough to get it dropped from competition at Cannes. However, the film’s director, Ann Hui, has asserted that the film has no wider agenda other than to humanise those whom she herself had spoken to – much of what is portrayed in the film is inspired by interviews she conducted with refugees from Vietnam who were part of the hundreds of thousands fleeing the country after the war.
Haunting and resonant, Boat People remains a vital cinematic record from an underseen master of Hong Kong cinema.
“Hui’s film speaks to an earnest and honest attempt to humanise people who were displaced by an Imperialist war. May we keep striving to do so.” – Andrew Le, Senses of Cinema