The True Hero


Director: Joe Cheung
Year: 1994
Rating: 6.5

To Sir with Love - Hong Kong style. Which means a lot more machetes and bloodshed. Ah Wing (Simon Yam) is a killer for the triads. A merciless one. In the opening scene he takes out a target in a car but that causes a bus full of school children and the teacher to crash and explode.  That image of them helplessly screaming to get out sticks in his head like a cancerous growth. Later when his friend is killed by a rival triad gang, he gets revenge on them and goes to jail. He leaves his friend’s sister, Hung (Anita Yuen) behind who looks worshipfully upon Wing as a Hero of the Triads. While he is away she becomes the tough talking punk looking Mamasan of a triad nightclub. When Wing gets out she is excited about what territory he will take over. I want to be the wife of Triad Boss. The territory he takes over is as an assistant at a school. He is done with the triad life. He is tired of killing. Tired of looking over his shoulder. Tired of chopping and being chopped. Hung says, oh I get it, you want to recruit the students into a gang. No, I just want to live a normal life. She is skeptical and keeps wondering what his real purpose is. She buys him a briefcase and a machete that fits neatly inside.

The school is one of those where they basically warehouse the students during the day. The teachers have no interest in teaching and the students have no interest in learning. Symbiosis. They are the trash class as the principle (Derek Yee) puts it. No one wants to teach them, the job is yours. They play a few pranks on him and one wannabe triad student with a chip on his shoulder Kit (John Dang) gets tough on Wing. He turns the other cheek. Hung doesn't and brings some of her gang to teach them a lesson. Brother Tiger who runs the neighborhood triad always has his eye out for talent and he sees potential in Kit. All it takes for Wing to gain the respect of his class is to save Kit from a gang of machete wielding triads and taking a few chops for it. Something all teachers are of course willing to do. Teaching in Hong Kong should get hazard pay.

Now we are back to To Sir with Love as he inspires them to pass their tests. I expected one of the girl students to get up and sing. But this being HK, triads still get involved and there is a need for Simon to go back again to some of his old skills in a bloody finale. I don't recall Sidney Poitier having to do that! Solid film with both Simon and Anita giving good performances. John Ching Tung plays Brother Tiger, Austin Wai is the gunslinger Brother Four, Lawrence Cheng is the gay manager of the nightclub where Anita works and Dennis Chan is one of the teachers.  It is directed by Joe Cheung (Pom Pom and Hot Hot) with choreography from Benz Kong and Stephen Tung Wai.