Confused by triad message
To judge by pronouncements from high Beijing officials and Cantonese movies, the triads are not a problem - it is merely bad triads. While some Beijingers recognise 'patriotic' triads are somehow a boon to Hong Kong society, the rather apolitical Young and Dangerous series holds that good gangsters are those who refuse to deal in drugs, never fight unless provoked, and do not really enjoy being thugs in the first place. On the other hand, they do not mind strutting about enjoying the 'respect' they get by being bad.
It is this confused moral message that makes Young and Dangerous objectionable. With each sequel, the movies are becoming more polished and more enjoyable, which makes their 'message' all the more disturbing. In the fourth instalment of the young punk saga, director Andrew Lau Wai-keung and producer/writer Manfred Wong have crafted one of the best entries. Chen Ho-nam, the gang leader played by teen idol Ekin Cheng Yi-kin, is downright sympathetic. He hates being a big boss, but finds it impossible to extricate himself from the mess.
In one scene, he finds himself a substitute teacher in a tough school. He pays lip service to the notion that triads are evil. But the movie does not fail to emphasise that the children respect him only after they see his tattoos and realise that he indeed belongs to the camp he so vociferously condemns.
The plot concerns a turf war between good and bad punks. Chicken (Jordan Chan Siu-chun) - a good thug - battles with Barbarian (Chan Chi-fai) for the leadership of Tuen Mun. The latter is a pawn of super evil Yiu Yeung (Roy Cheung Yiu-yeung), a gangster who gets his kicks throwing people from roofs. A minor battleground is the school yard, where Chicken's girlfriend Wasabi (Karen Mok Man-wai) teaches the 'little angels', most of whom are junior triad members.
One can only hope that Young and Dangerous 4 magnifies the extent to which gangs have infiltrated schools, so harrowing a picture it paints of these rebels without a cause. The big boss is good gangster Cheung Tin-yeung (Alex Man Chi-leung). He has escaped to Thailand, but retains a grip on the goings-on in Hong Kong.
In the film's most revealing political insight, Cheung decides the moment is right to return to the territory. 'It's 1997,' he states, and the metropolis is rife with opportunities for somebody like himself.
In another illuminating moment, the bad boss Yiu Yeung quotes Chairman Mao Zedong to justify his behaviour.
'Power comes from the barrel of a gun,' is his philosophy, and despite Chen's protestations otherwise, this is the message that comes across loud and clear.
The violence is leavened with humour and a few tender moments. However, the on miscalculation is the romance between a virginal school teacher (Michelle Reis) and Chen. The scene where he drunkenly enters her bed and she hesitantly strips him and herself elicited chuckles from the audience.
Guffaws, intentional ones this time, were garnered by Sandra Ng Kwun-yue's stereotypical portrayal of a butch lesbian triad boss, one of the film's good guys. She is in charge of the Mongkok massage parlours but, evidently, steers clear of drugs.
For those who believe that movies influence society, Young and Dangerous 4 presents dangerous role models for the young and impressionable. As mainstream commercial film-making, it is an entertaining if exaggerated reflection of society's underside - and the fantasies people have about this underside.
Young And Dangerous 4, Gala circuit