As a 17 year old, Lok (George Au) has raped a girl, Ching (Sheena Chan), not out of lust but out of jilted love (not that that would make his deed any more excusable), and he has spent three years in jail for it. Now that he's released, he sleeps in the streets, until he's picked up by social worker Miss Yung (Wing Mo), who offers him a temporary place to stay in Pastor Leung's (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang), which Lok happily accepts. And staying at the church leads him on a path where he wants to do good and help others, and even drives him to whole-heartedly apologize to Ching - only to learn she has since taken her own life.  Upon this he of course only doubles his efforts to be the best person he can be. And frankly, Pastor Leung ought to be so proud of Lok, the posterboy of a reformed criminal ... only, he's not, as you know, Lok's victim Ching was his daughter, and she killed herself not so much because of the rape itself but because she got pregnant from it and her dad wouldn't allow her to get an abortion, a thing the good pastor now blames Lok doubly for, especially after Lok has managed to talk a suicidal woman (Summer Chan) who was also denied an abortion, out of going through with it. Still, he's the pastor, and professionally, he has to forgive Lok, the repenting sinner. But as a father he can't, and things come to a head when Lok is having his own baptism at Pastor Leung's church ...

Now this is a film that isn't easy to digest, as it asks hard questions and then refuses to give its audience any simple answers, always moving n the grey area between right and wrong, and ultimately stuck in the dilemma of what's better, a bad man who has cchanged or a good man too stuck in his beliefs to see his dangerous flaws. And since both these central characters are well fleshed-out and very relatable (in their own fallible ways that is), the audience can't help but being sucked into this story, which of course is only helped by a strong ensemble cast. So it might be a difficult film, but a very worthwhile one.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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