From the Queen to the Chief Executive

“It is always my wish to film topics on the weak and the inferior. Be it humanity, basic human rights or the courage to face problems, we should acknowledge their presence.” (Herman Yau)

Hong Kong maverick director Herman Yau’s true crime films always contain sharp observations of social conditions. In this pure drama, the director/scholar (Yau’s Ph.D. thesis analysed censorship in Hong Kong cinema from British to Chinese rule) highlights social action during Hong Kong’s 1997 transition. In 1985, the perpetrators of a gruesome double murder were convicted as juveniles and sentenced to indefinite terms (‘at her Majesty’s pleasure’). As dramatised in the film, idealistic councillor Leung and his colleague Yueling fight for the rights of young prisoner Cheung as HK approaches 1997.

The film activates conventions of Cantonese melodrama, the genre HK filmmakers have employed to articulate social critique. This document of a particular moment in HK’s struggle for human rights remains inspirational today.

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