Award-winning film Ten Years is a bleak view on a dystopian-like Hong Kong [Review]
It’s not a pretty sight, what Ten Years paints Hong Kong’s future as potentially being, but maybe that’s the whole point – to provoke us into doing something about it.
Ten Years is a movie set in the year 2025, depicting a dystopian world in which Hongkongers rights, freedom and ways of life have been eroded by the influence of the mainland Government. It was named Best Film in the Hong Kong Film Awards in April.
The movie is split into five parts, and each segment was helmed by different directors. They each reflect different aspects of life for Hongkongers; from subjects like politics to the problems a taxi driver unable to speak Mandarin has in a city that is slowly demanding a shift to it.
The segment that hit closest to home was the short film titled Local Eggs. It tells the story of a grocery store keeper who is trying to stay afloat in a world of oppression and control. He is harassed into changing his claim to selling “local eggs” to one that says that he sells “Hong Kong eggs”, because calling them “local” is not allowed. He finds his son, part of the Youth Guard, a Red Guard-esque band of youths, egging a bookstore that has been secretly selling politically questionable books, only to discover that his son has actually been secretly helping the bookstore owner put away the books in question before the guards can get to them.
Local Eggs is a story of our very possible future. It’s not only a reflection of our generation, but of the generation after ours. It shows us how bleak our future may be, if we continue on the path we’re on now. Ten Years provokes the audience into thinking about the changing landscape of Hong Kong – as scary and dark it potentially may be.
Edited by Ginny Wong