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"under the white sun" performed poorly at the mainland box office. the movie, which was released in november last year, received high praise in hong kong and on a certain platform. however, mainland cinemas have few screenings, and people are not very willing to go to the cinema to watch such a heavy subject.

the movie does leave a lot of questions at the end. how will people take care of their old age in the future? how can they age with dignity? how can people with disabilities get safety protection? how can we reconcile the supply and demand relationship between the increasingly tight social resources and the increasingly large aging population?

before watching the film, i checked the actual demand for beds in various nursing homes in hong kong and found that "the waiting list will last for more than ten years" is not an exaggeration.

the "caiqiao home" in the film is a combination of many real-life social welfare institutions involved in abuse and sexual assault scandals. the villain zhang jianhua (played by lam pou-yee) and reporter xiaoqi (played by yu xiangning) also have prototypes. the lawsuit was not completely concluded before the filming of the movie. after the film was released, the court made a ruling. although it could not be completely convicted, it was still pursued for compensation.

whether in the movie or the prototype of the character, "zhang jianhua" is also a disabled person. on the surface, as the head of a welfare institution, he is eager to accept the elderly and disabled children abandoned by their families. in fact, he condones the abuse of the elderly by caregivers, and he himself has also sexually assaulted mentally retarded girls for a long time.

when faced with questioning, he had many reasons, and these were also the responses given by real people.

in fact, a little analysis will reveal the simple reasons:

in modern civilized society, abandoning the elderly may be illegal, but abandoning the elderly "legally" is not illegal.

the same is true for children with disabilities.

when giving welfare institutions some money, the person in charge takes the lion's share, and the rest is used to hire helpers. the salary is so little, and there are only so many caregivers, but they have to take care of more and more elderly people and children. on average, a caregiver has to deal with dozens of people every day. over time, the resentment in their hearts has nowhere to vent, so they abuse them in various ways.

the food tasted like garbage, people were tied up like animals, and when they took a shower they were stripped naked and pushed onto the roof to wash. at other times they were beaten or scolded.

but these "useless people" still have thoughts and emotions, so the big boy who was sent by his family in the movie instinctively wanted to escape, but his family and caregivers pulled him in again, and then he committed suicide.

what kind of abuse can make a mentally disabled person choose to commit suicide?

the scariest scene in the whole film is when zhang jianhua coaxes a mentally retarded girl with candy in his office and then closes the door...

but when reporter xiaoqi revealed all this to the public, she was met with insults from the elderly and the children's families.

she cried. she didn’t understand why she was considered “nosy” in the eyes of these people for exposing the crimes?

in fact, the audience knows that the family members know more or less what happened in the "colorful bridge house", but they pretend not to know. otherwise, who will take in these burdens? they still have to apply and continue to take care of these burdens during this period.

this tiny country hides too many hardships and helplessness, and the poor have to bear all of them.

"people are useless when they get old." this sentence is mentioned many times in "under the day".

reporter xiaoqi's grandfather died in a nursing home, and no one cared about him when he passed away. she and her mother felt guilty, but her mother was old and had a bad relationship with xiaoqi. she said she wanted to return to the mainland to retire and leave the house to xiaoqi so that she would not be embarrassed. because "people are useless when they are old."

zhou botong (david chiang) in the nursing home also told xiaoqi that "people are useless when they get old". he is more sober and more likely to accept reality. he knows everything in the "colorful bridge home", but he pretends to be confused and pretends to be old and has a poor memory. he said, "only by pretending to be confused can i survive."

xiaoqi didn't know what it meant to pretend to be confused. she only knew that some people died in this place, and some were abused by the caregivers in various ways. the person in charge, zhang jianhua, was not a successful person in hong kong, and the caregivers under him were all low-level. they could only do whatever they wanted to these poor people in this small piece of land. only then could they feel like "god" - even if they returned to reality, they were still ignored.

"elderly care" is a social issue, and the problem has become increasingly serious in hong kong in recent years.

the lower-class civilians usually live in a small space, with several family members crowded together. when the parents get old, how to "deal with" them becomes a big problem.

it is not that hong kong has not had the possibility of making people's homes more spacious before:

reclaim land from the sea and develop new territories.

but all of this was collectively rejected by the rich, for reasons that were not very convincing but very realistic:

when other places are developed, the previous property market will fall. the best way to prevent wealth from shrinking is to continue to shrink living space.

but all of this must have a seemingly great reason, such as "environmental protection".

so zhang jianhua's business will continue and grow bigger and bigger. until now, the prototype person has only been fined, and the organization has not been banned. everyone is very embarrassed, and they all know that this kind of thing will happen again in the future, but the place is so small, and there are more and more people, and more and more elderly people.

so zhang jianhua said in "under the white sun":

"you abandoned them."

there was a hint of teasing in his eyes.

some elderly people have a few old photos in their rooms. they die silently in the memories and hopes day after day, such as xiaoqi’s grandfather, xiaoqi’s mother in the future... and the future xiaoqi.

a friend told me that he went to see the movie when it was released last year and felt very heavy after watching it.

i said that you are willing to watch it, but this movie is rarely shown, and not many people watch it. mainland audiences have rarely gone to the cinema to watch themes that directly hit the cruel reality in recent years, but it does not prevent everyone from giving it high scores on douban.

not only hong kong, but also the mainland and some parts of the world are facing the problem of aging. the government's investment in related resources also reflects a region's intuitive concept of "uselessness". just like the feeling that "people are useless when they get old", maybe we have to wait until the numb people get old to feel it for themselves. before that, everyone even thinks that paying taxes to support the elderly is a burden, and no one cares about their life or death.

until the prototype of the "under the sun" incident was exposed:

on the rooftop, more than a dozen elderly people were stripped naked and sat in wheelchairs, like pigs being washed in a pigsty. the important parts that they desperately raised their hands to cover were the last bit of dignity for the elderly.

"you're going to get old too, aren't you?"

when i was thinking about this question, i remembered the naughty students in the movie "report to the teacher! weird, weird, weird, monster!" they abused the elderly under the pretext of taking care of them. someone asked, "are people useless when they get old?" another person said, "then don't get old! just die when you are young!"

as a result, what he said came true.

i held back for a few issues and originally wanted to explain the entire movie in complete detail, but i gave up.

i hope someone goes to see this movie.

let’s take a look at everyone’s situation in the future.

this is not sensationalism, it is the truth.

in fact, in recent years, the mainland media has also reported on the abuse of the elderly in a nursing home, but it has not attracted enough attention. the pace of society is too fast, and everyone is in their prime. who will pay attention to the group that has no voice?

so bowie lam played the villain for once, saying "it was you who abandoned them", implying that he had the right to dispose of these "wastes" at will.

he acted extremely well.

in the last issue, we talked about "bone sister", in which yu xiangning played lingling. that was a movie in 2016. seven years later, she played xiaoqi, and her image and temperament changed again.

david chiang doesn't need to be mentioned. he also played a hero when he was young. later, when he was old, he hid in the "colorful bridge house" and pretended to be stupid. people called him "zhou botong", which means he is like an old naughty boy, but he is not stupid. he pretends to be stupid. he knows that if he doesn't pretend to be stupid, he can't survive.

the three of them won so many awards for this film "under the sun" that their hands were tired.

producer derek yee said that this film was the most difficult one for him to attract investment for. no one was optimistic about this realistic theme, and in the end it was louis koo's film company that took it over.

some people say, "what can you do by filming it? can it solve the problem?"

i think maybe it can't be solved, but at least the problem can be raised and it won't be covered up anymore.

who would say "this movie vilifies hong kong"?

no, there are many people in hong kong who are paying attention and looking for better solutions.

the social response after the release of "under the sun" in hong kong and the court's trial results on real people and events show that at least some people are not numb and some people face reality.