Alas,
there is really no suspense to be found in the political campaign this film
documents. That is because the Beijing-controlled government of Hong Kong would
do anything to prevent the election of an independent-minded (and
independence-minded) candidate like Edward Leung. The fix was in, but he and
his allies continued to fight the good fight throughout Nora Lam’s documentary
profile, Lost in Fumes, which screens as part of the Metrograph new film
series, To Hong Kong with Love, inspired by the democracy movement bravely
demanding the HK government recognize its commitments to democracy and personal
liberties as agreed to in the binding Joint Declaration.
Ironically,
CCP propaganda claims the protestors seek to undermine the “One China Two
Systems” doctrine, but it really Carrie Lam’s puppet government that has
undermined the “two systems” part of the equation. Most of the protestors are
advocating a real return to “One China Two Systems.” However, Leung is a
different case. He and his Hong Kong Indigenous party were indeed advocating independence,
which should have been their right, if Hong Kong were a more democratic system—but
it isn’t.
There
is a bit of street thuggery captured in the film, but the 2017-2018 period now
looks like the calm before the storm compared to the systemic, orchestrated
military-style campaigns of police brutality unleashed on the “Yellow” democracy
movement in 2019. Yet, throughout the doc, we see the insidious ways Lam’s administration
has institutionalized biases against competing political agendas into the
fabric of the government. As a result, Leung and his running mates struggle with
the dilemma of how their independence party can even stand for election when
they must sign a pledge repudiating independence in order to be certified as
candidates. For Leung, this is a profound quandary that literally drives him sick,
physically and emotionally.
Nora
Lam obviously had intimate access to Leung over the course of several years,
but the portrait she creates is not slavishly starry-eyed. We definitely see
Leung lose confidence and perhaps even start to wrestle with the depression
that had plagued him before his activist days. Yet, that is exactly what makes Fumes
so powerful. At the time of filming, Leung was only 25 years-old, but he
was nearly reaching the point of burn-out. That is the effect Lam and her master
Xi were having on the future generations of HK—and that was before they exposed
an estimated 80% of the population to toxic tear gas.
Leung
is a complicated figure, whose future is uncertain, but that is true for an
entire generation of Hong Kongers. Lam’s film is a necessary reminder that 2019
protests and the “Five Demands” did not come out of nowhere and they did not
start with the introduction of Beijing’s extradition bill. The events unfolding
in Fumes occurred between the 2014 Umbrella protests and the current
wave of mass demonstrations. It is clear from Leung’s struggles this was not a tranquil
interregnum. There was indeed widespread discontent that the Lam regime met
with heavy-handed tactics.
This
is a valuable film, for a number of reasons, starting with the time it allows
Leung and his colleagues to speak for themselves, without having to shout over
Xi’s enforcers. It is a compelling snapshot of a young leader who still has a
great deal of promise. Still, it is important to repeat most of the protestors
in 2014 and 2019 (including prominent leaders like Nathan Law and Joshua Wong)
were not advocating independence. Instead, they are risking their future
prospects for the sake of universal suffrage, protection of free speech rights,
an independent inquiry into police brutality, as well as the permanent withdrawal
of the extradition and anti-mask laws. Clearly, they can learn from Leung’s experiences,
as can the rest of the world. Highly recommended, Lost in the Fumes screens
tomorrow (2/8) at the Metrograph, as part of their timely series, To Hong
Kong with Love.
