Once upon a time, some people commented that Hong Kong movies were "all overheated, all crazy", and most of the Hong Kong movies in the 1980s and 1990s were police films, gangster films, comedies, kung fu films, martial arts films, etc., and there were few realistic works. However, there was a special work in 1992, which was classified as a class III film not because of violent and indescribable shots, but because the dialogue was mixed with more foul language.
It is such a grade III film that defeated Maggie Cheung's "Ruan Lingyu", Chow Sing Chi's "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", Jet Li's "Huang Feihong 2" at the Next Year's Academy Awards, and won the best film, it is "Caged People".
The film focuses on the bottom group, focusing on the "exemplary work of realistic film" of the people at the bottom. It is a pity that such an excellent film, which was released in Hong Kong that year, only sold 1.76 million Hong Kong dollars, although the box office failed miserably, but the significance of the film itself was great, showing the audience the most naked and real cage people, causing people to think.
Douban up to 8.9 points of "Caged People" by Zhang Zhiliang self-written and directed, Huang Jiaju, Teddy Robin, Qiao Hong, Li Mingjiao, Gu Feng, Liu Xun, Hu Feng, Chen Guoxin and other co-stars, I believe that many people, including I first paid attention to this movie is because of Huang Jiaju, but Zhang Zhiliang initially found an actor is Zhou Xingchi, but Xingye refused, a 1992 is Zhou Xingchi year, he is too busy, there is no schedule, and the role setting of "Caged People" is not in line with Xingye's performance style at that time.
Speaking of Huang Jiaju, from his previous filming of "BEYOND Diary of Mo BullyIng The Poor Boy" and "Happy Ghost Saves Happy Ghost", it can be seen that Jiaju loves to express, but his acting skills are really dramatic, he is not good at imitation, but this makes him appear naïve and pleasing.
For example, in the above rotating shot, when everyone questioned Mao Zi for betraying the entire village with the list, and as a result, jiaju took out the list and asked them one by one, and everyone was silent. Mao Zai's cute and kind side is the reason why he was deceived and bribed by Senator Xu. Even if he eventually stole back the list, the cage house was eventually forced to be demolished due to fire and policy plans.
The film is taken from the thick social theme, through the "cage" to see the cold and warm people inside the cage, the world outside the cage, with wonderful group drama and excellent scheduling to pay attention to the hard life of the bottom group. In "Cage People", Zhang Zhiliang mainly uses strong documentary long-shot scheduling, with rotating shots to explain the characters and environment, truly and originally showing the daily life status of the "Cage House" crowd in Hong Kong, of which the longest shot lasts nearly 8 minutes from the 37th minute to the 45th minute, presenting a wonderful group scene.
The film is about a group of cage people living in cage houses, although there are disputes in their daily lives, but they are always harmonious and harmonious. Suddenly, on a certain day, the chartered gongfeigu received a registered letter, saying that the owner had received the building. Fatty Gu decided to go to the district councilor and the lawyer to discuss, and things changed at this moment. The cage house, which is usually unoccupied, suddenly became lively, welcoming a group of reporters, and then the two parliamentarians stayed in the cage house and said that they wanted to experience life with the cage people. On the surface, it is said to help them, but in fact, each one thinks about his own reputation and news reports. In the end, Councillor Xu colluded with the owners to bribe Mao Zi with heavy money, and the caged people were forcibly moved out of the slum.
The camera returns to the news broadcast on tv, watching the people in the cage in the TV from the perspective of the caged person, which is quite lamentable. Through the words of the actors, the questions to be asked and concerned about this film are explained, and the above and the thinking of the cage people are weighed. "As a district councilor, sometimes I can't do what I want to do, I can't do it, the people will not come to me for small things, and I can't help with big things", "The concern of the citizens is deserved, but the above handling of this issue must also be very careful", "I think the district councilor is not much different from the caged people on this issue." At this point, the intention of the film is obvious.
The Mid-Autumn Festival listening to incense, a group of people in the courtyard carnival at night, the loveless dance is the most memorable, "there is wine in this dynasty and drunk in this dynasty", 7-11 is difficult to sing church English songs with pleasure, but I did not expect that this was their last reunion, the laughter left by the cage house, and the next day ushered in the fire brigade.
What the Governor said was quite meaningful—
"Wine is sexual, it cannot be frightened, and once it is frightened, it is not good to drink";
"You get used to living, and slowly you can't see the iron net, and what you see is what you want to see, which is skill, and the so-called is not that you live in this cage, but that those who watch you live in the cage";
"Human wisdom is produced by the accumulation of experience, and the accumulation of experience does not necessarily come so easily, so gloriously and so happily, so-called ...".
My understanding is that these "cage people" have lived in the cage house for a long time, regarded it as a peach blossom source, gradually adapted to the life inside, had their own set of life concepts, and self-deprecated outsiders who did not understand their behavior, "not enough for outsiders." Although life is very hard, at least there is no trouble, and they will wake up in the morning and sigh "Another day, it's really fast." They don't care about the passage of time, but no one pays attention to them, and the parliamentarians come to send forked chicken rice and towels only for "Bo Yingxiang", only Charlie, who is sleeping under the bridge, and they will rely on each other with their hearts.
Tang San repeated many times in the film that "how much a person eats and how much he wears is doomed", on the one hand, it is a kind of round field statement before he takes other people's things to eat, on the other hand, it is also a hint of the theme of this film, some people are rich and noble, some people have to live in cages, "so many houses are demolished, why do they want to demolish this layer".
The warmest part of the film should be the relationship between father and son, the fat girl and the mentally handicapped son in the moonlight underground "ha wine", Mao Zai and his father reconciled, at this moment, the rain fell on the eaves.
According to 2017 statistics, the per capita living area in Hong Kong is only 4 square meters, so the cage house is sometimes jokingly called the "coffin house". As expressed at the end of "Caged People", solving the housing problem of slums and even residents is by no means something that can be solved by relying solely on the power of the above or the wishful thinking of the people, but it requires the common attention and efforts of the whole society. (Written by: Swift Wind Zhi Jincao)