6/5/2023 0 Comments Faceless 2021![]() These parallel struggles are compelling, as is the film. Indeed, the defiance and spirit of its participants means that though their expressions are covered their hearts are on their sleeves. That sense of the overwhelming, though, is not lacking. Yet in sum they are perhaps one one-hundred-and-eighty-sixth the population of the mainland, and that balance is crushing. A million and a half on the streets is incredible to see, more so that this is one in five Hongkongers. Where it struggles is in illustrating what those odds are. Indeed, it creates them, by giving face (without revealing it) to single voices. There's a line about "erasing other possibilities" and Faceless does not do that. There are shades of The Conversation but this surveillance is nowhere near as kindly. Number plates obfuscated prevent solid time and place and perhaps also tracking down return angles from dash-cams. At times spaces are blurred and it's unclear what might have been there to remove. One finds oneself worrying if enough has been done to protect identities. A stark contrast when we are also being told that those involved are not suffering PTSD because "there is no post-". Translation via app suggests "There Are People" as the title but the shots of quotidian Hong Kong over the top feel almost like tourism. A song by Denise Ha plays at the end and over the credits. The score by Tartell Harris, also featuring a choral/orchestral piece by Voces8 feels a little heavy-handed at times. ![]() What it lacks in part is a map to help locate these affecting individual stories in that grand scale. In raising questions of post- and re-colonialism, generational conflict, religious persecution and rights for LGBTQ+ communities Faceless finds the green shoots of individual resistance in the thicket of mass protest. Faceless absolutely achieves the former, to the point that it starts to highlight its difficulties in the latter. The two basic tenets of documentary - find something interesting, tell its story in an interesting way. Within that there's opportunity to talk about extended organisation, but it's not taken. While Faceless shifts focus (sometimes literally) to document (and protect) individuals, it also looks at the ad-hoc organisation around the protests. In the footage you can see the changes in tactics that include extinguishing crews, the widespread use of torches and lasers to disrupt recording. We see through time the protests grow, evolve. When talking about generational gaps Lam's cohort included pro-democracy activists, and the Queen's Dock demolition early in her governmental career showed a tendency to the tough. There's mention made of past attempts to change legislative frameworks and the resulting protests, including those of 2014, but some things are perhaps simplified too far. Though she appears on screen a few times Carrie Lam's background could do with more context. There's a quote reused that talks about patriotism but even for someone familiar with the situation there didn't feel enough detail about "one China, two systems". ![]() There are animated timelines over footage to explain some of Hong Kong's history and the process of alignment with the People's Republic on the Mainland. It is here that Faceless is possibly weakest, this is difficult territory to map. We see some of the new mechanisms that aid the protestors, the "parents", the "navigators". Each have varying degrees of support from their communities, families. Each have, had, different motivations for participation in the protests. There is the Student, the Artist, the Believer, the Daughter. Blood and bruises, crowd control gases, but also fiery tempers, emotional anguish. ![]() Some of it is distressing, physically so. We have direct insight through GoPro cameras, phones, archive and media coverage as well. There is an astonishing amount of 'on the ground' footage, though that starts to feel an odd description when there are drones involved. This is a collaborative effort, there are many credited and potentially more uncredited to preserve their anonymity. Covering the Hong Kong protests gave her opportunities to tell these stories, and their impact. Jennifer Ngo directs, she's previously produced stories for TV documentary staples Frontline and Panorama. The consequences are not trivial, nor is this film. All are masked, in some cases also blurred. Faceless treads a difficult line in making personal the interwoven demands of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, while protecting the individuals whose stories are told. ![]()
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