What do Tsoi Yuen villagers have in common with 3 metre blue aliens?

Villagers being forced from their homes to make way for a rail link have come up with an unusual source of inspiration: the tall, blue, tree-dwelling aliens in the blockbuster Avatar who battle invading earthlings.

Tsoi Yuen villagers who have been told they must leave their homes to make way for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link saw the movie yesterday at the invitation of a group of young people who have taken up their cause.

The Post 80s Anti-Express Railway Group invited a dozen villagers to watch Avatar at the UA Times Square cinema because they saw similarities between their plight and that of the Na'vi in James Cameron's 3-D blockbuster who are forced from their homes on an imaginary planet because it sits atop a valuable mineral deposit. The government says the rail link must be built for Hong Kong to share in the mainland's economic expansion.

In the film, the Na'vi are rallied with the fiery speech: 'They have sent us a message that they can take whatever they want. Well, we will send them a message that this, this is our land!' Those words resonated with one elderly villager who was watching a 3D film for the first time.

'I'm touched by how they protect their homeland,' said 81-year-old Wong Kam-fook, referring to the guerilla war the Na'vi wage to fight off the invaders.

The young people who organised the film viewing are linked to the hundreds of young people who formed a circle around the Legislative Council building last month to support the villagers and show their disapproval of the HK$66.9 billion project. Pan-democrats on the Finance Committee later held up approval for funding of the project, delaying the start of work on it.