Movie Review: Lessons in Dissent/未夠秤

I realize my reviews are usually pretty flippant, humorous, or downright insulting.

Hey, you go with your strengths, right?

Part of the reason for that is me, and part of it is the movies I watch.

But every now and then, I see a movie that makes me think the nicest thing I could do for it is to not talk about it.

 Lessons in Dissent/未夠秤 is one of those movies.

But it’s so interesting and so recommendable that I will try.

So if there’s anything funny in this review, it will be me trying to be serious.

Lessons in Dissent/未夠秤  is a documentary about two young people in Hong Kong.

Joshua Wong started a group called Scholarism to oppose National Education, a program that would have introduced a mandatory block of education teaching Hong Kong students to love China and the CCP, and to see those two things as interchangeable.

I won’t go into the issue, but you can either look it up yourself, or, even better, watch Lessons in Dissent/未夠秤.

It quickly becomes clear why Jason and a lot of other Hong Kong people wanted no part of this Orwellian farce.

Did I say that… or just think it?

When you watch Lessons in Dissent/未夠秤 and hear exactly what was in the curriculum, you’ll either laugh or cry.

Especially when CY Leung says that Western nations all have national education.

Keui yat ding yiu mo lun cho.

The other young man featured in the film is Ma Jai, who dropped out of school in order to take a more active role in Hong Kong’s social movements.

Jason is the media darling, and Ma Jai is more behind-the-scenes.

He does a lot of the grunt work that people often overlook, like printing banners, putting up signs, or working overnight to prepare a protest site.

The documentary follows them through a series of events including the National Education issue (and protests), the June 4th memorial, the July 1st protest march, and the ‘election’ of the Chief Executive, where a city of 7 million has a leader elected by less than 700 people.

And he only got a little more than half the votes.

But I digress…

At 98 minutes the film occasionally feels a little long. There’s a reason most documentaries are an hour or less.

But by the end of the movie I realized that the time is necessary to put everything in there so that you understand the end even more.

Since this is a documentary, there’s no point in discussing the normal movie stuff like actors, direction, or cinematography.

I’ve lived in Hong Kong for almost 10 years, and in that time I’ve seen it change a lot, and not for the better.

There is (or was) a view of young people in Hong Kong as disconnected, worrying only about school and caring only about video games or other distractions.

So seeing these two young people, and a lot of other young people around them, taking such an active role in voicing the opinions of Hong Kong people, and getting so deeply involved in social protest, makes me happy.

People here are increasingly frustrated, angry, and despairing, and they aren’t being quiet about it.

The summer of 2014 will be very interesting. 

Lessons in Dissent/未夠秤  is a very interesting movie.

It’s also a good way to learn about some of the pressing issues in Hong Kong.

I strongly recommend watching this movie.

Go see it in the cinema if you can, and if not, buy a disc when it gets released.

I guess if there is any point in this review that I can revert back to my usual self, it is this:

When Scholarism became popular and gained momentum, one of the local television stations (I won’t say their name but the initials are ATV) ran a program saying that the National education issue had two sides: the constructive camp and the destructive camp.

Guess which side opponents were?

Even worse, they said that Scholarism were just young people being manipulated by forces “under the shadow of Washington and London.”

Really?

I think ATV was under the shadow of Beijing.

I also think that ATV, the CCP, and National Education can all make like squirrels…

…and smell my nuts.