‘We played a little trick, deliberately not letting the two leads know about the ending. Both actors felt that the character who died would likely win the Best Actor award, so they were eager to die!'—John Chan Koon-chung

A study of resilience in the face of adversity, the film follows the love triangle between Kim-fei (Chow Yun-fat), Hak-keung (Alex Man), and Yuk-nam (Cecilia Yip), whose friendship, courage, and moral principles are put to the challenge during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. Will their values and virtues survive unsullied? The timeless romantic theme of sense and sensibility, as well as the conflict between desire and compromise, are here dramatised with skills and explored with subtlety. But wickedness equally pervades in the times of war. Not only condemning the brutal Japanese invasion and critiquing the impotent British colonial regime, the film also takes a long hard look at individual villainy—the greedy racketeers and the ruthless triad members. It depicts a panorama of human nature.

# Post-screening talk with Eric Tsang Siu-wang

The contents of the programme do not represent the views of the presenter. The presenter reserves the right to change the programme should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary.