The Story of Woo Viet

The Story of Woo Viet

Dir: Ann Hui
Scr: Alfred Cheung
Cast: Chow Yun-fat, Cherie Chung, Lo Lieh, Cora Miao
1981 / Colour / D Beta / Cantonese / 89min

Following Below the Lion Rock episode From Vietnam, Ann Hui once again shined a spotlight on the plight of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong with her third feature film (and the second part of her "Vietnam Trilogy"). Chow Yun-fat stars as Woo Viet, a Vietnamese refugee who looks to flee to the United States after killing a spy in the refugee settlement. Along his long journey to freedom, he falls in love with fellow Vietnamese refugee Ching (Cherie Chung). When Ching is forced into prostitution in the Philippines, Woo Viet becomes a killer for the mob in order to free his love. Using Woo Viet's letters to express his inner world, Hui and writer Alfred Cheung seemed to have been making a connection between Vietnamese refugees living in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Diaspora struggling to make new lives abroad. Later that year, Hui would complete her trilogy with Boat People (1982).


Date Time Venue
6/6/2015 (Sat) 7:30pm Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

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