My Hong Kong | Bruce Lee and his fight against ‘Asian hate’ once told the real Hong Kong story to the world. Now we’re just a prop
- Blockbuster films rarely do our city justice, omitting the many meaningful stories and narratives in exchange for superficial presentation
- We need to shed the perpetual image that we are a city that is neither Western nor Chinese and start telling our individual story here and everywhere we go
I was watching a movie the other day about a convicted super-hacker who is released from prison to help track and bring down a cyberterrorist in an international joint effort between the Chinese government and the FBI.
Blackhat is a rather obscure (and tedious) Hollywood action thriller. Its only consolation is that the lead role is played by A-lister and Australian hunk Chris Hemsworth.
The plot of Blackhat is rather predictable, but somehow the cat-and-mouse chase leads Hemsworth and the others to Hong Kong. Halfway through the film, the main villain is tracked down to Shek O, which is in the south-eastern part of Hong Kong Island.
Shek O is a popular destination for beachgoers and hikers, as the famed Dragon’s Back trail is found here. As well as being a popular spot for beach trips and barbecues, it has served as a popular backdrop for many Canto-pop music videos.
As expected, the famed Hong Kong skyline and many familiar local neighbourhoods like Temple Street are prominently featured in the Hollywood film. I recognised a particular location in Temple Street where my daughter and I used to go every Lunar New Year to seek advice from our favourite fortune-teller, Mr Lam.