A highly-regarded classic of Cantonese cinema, The Great Devotion, presents a compelling portrait of a Hong Kong family pulling together to face the dire conditions of abject poverty, but with parental devotion triumphing over societal harshness in the end. Writer-director Chor Yuen adopts real-life incidents in his story, backed by a stellar cast of accomplished actors, including Cheung Wood-yau, Pak Yin and Michael Lai, the latter already a seasoned actor in his teenage years. Cheung and Pak play the parents who face the challenges of unemployment, sickness and death of their youngest daughter all at the same time. Lai, as the eldest child, helps to shoulder the family's numerous burdens. Lai sheds his usual wiseacre persona to play a child who is denied of his childhood. At one point, he leads his three brothers and sisters to beg on the streets to pay for their mother's medicine bills but only to get beaten up. This is a heartbreaking yet heartwarming film.

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