Get Reel | Film review: My Voice, My Life
Students are a real inspiration. Even those who initially appear to be troublemakers can go on to give us great hope for the future.
Starring: Jason Chow, Lin Tsz-nok, Tabitha Chan, Lam Sio-fan, Nick Ho Lik-ho, Emily Chung Siu-wan
Director: Ruby Yang Ziye
Category: IIA (Cantonese)
Students are a real inspiration. Even those who initially appear to be troublemakers can go on to give us great hope for the future.
That is the message of My Voice, My Life, Ruby Yang Yize's stirring documentary which follows 80 students from four middle and secondary schools (including the Ebenezer School and Home for the Visually Impaired) as they undergo six months of training to stage a musical at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
An Oscar winner for The Blood of Yingzhou District, a documentary short about the effect of HIV/Aids on orphans in Anhui province's Yingzhou district, director-producer-editor Yang has lived on the mainland and is often described as a Chinese-American director. However, she was born in Hong Kong and her filmography includes Citizen Hong Kong (1997). And her latest work proves the so-called Lion Rock spirit is alive and well in Hong Kong's youth.
A case in point is Jason Chow (aka Ah Bok), a self-proclaimed bad boy motivated by caring individuals around him to become a better team player. Another is Tabitha Chan, a Form Four student from a low-band school who, during the course of the documentary, grows in confidence and maturity to perform well in the musical and better interact with her peers.
The documentary cannot tell the individual stories of every student involved in this project, but it does allow us to hear the voices of a few.