Film Name: 哗！英雄 / What a Hero! / 嘩！英雄
During high school, I’d visit my classmate’s house. We were both boarding students, but his home was closer—a suburban household, while mine was in a mountainous county. Even with one day off on weekends, I couldn’t always make it home. His house had a window air conditioner—a rare luxury for boarding students who didn’t even have electric fans. But what captivated me most was his Ai Lang VCR and a few tapes. Among them was “What a Hero!” I watched it every single time I visited. I doubt director Peter Chan ever imagined mainland high schoolers would rewatch his film so many times. “What a Hero!” was one of Peter Chan’s early works. Compared to his more mature films like “Big Bullet,” it felt a bit rough around the edges. But the more I watched it, the more I appreciated its charm—a refreshingly unpretentious quality that set it apart from typical commercial fare. The story takes place on Lantau Island, far from the city. There, Andy Lau plays a Royal Hong Kong Police officer who embodies the village’s hopes and dreams—the perfect son everyone envies. He has younger brothers who admire his martial arts skills, villagers who adore him like the moon, and his childhood sweetheart Maggie Cheung. His seemingly perfect life lacks only excitement and passion. Determined to make it in the big city, he neglects the feelings of those around him. Such young people are everywhere—in Gu Long’s novels, they’re the young swordsmen bidding farewell to their lovers at the village entrance, believing they must make a name for themselves to win them back. In Jin Yong’s works, it’s Ouyang Feng leaving White Camel Mountain. Today, countless souls like oxen and horses leave their hometowns to toil elsewhere—perhaps we are among them. Knowing full well we could live well back home, we still insist on venturing out, refusing to turn back until we’ve hit rock bottom.
After finally transferring back to the big city, Huazi encounters Police Chief Chen Huimin, who prioritizes peace and harmony. Working under him, Huazi engages in a fierce workplace rivalry with the arrogant Zhang Yaoyang. Defeated in the professional arena, he ultimately triumphs over his opponent through sheer willpower in a taekwondo competition. He settles down peacefully on Lantau Island with his childhood sweetheart. The contrast between Huazi’s earlier swagger and his post-setback despondency is stark. As a child, I only grasped how cool Huazi looked when he was handsome. Now I understand the world doesn’t revolve around me. Believing oneself superior, expecting someone to wait silently—all such notions are delusions. Even with great talent, such behavior only leads to ending up like the lonely Ouyang Feng. The film tells a dreamlike story, but in reality, it might resemble Gu Long’s tales where young lovers meet again in the martial arts world only to part forever. Following society’s natural trajectory, Chow leaves his hometown to conquer the metropolis. Amidst a dazzling array of unfamiliar sights and tastes, he finally grasps his own insignificance and powerlessness. Decades later, he returns with his family to find everything changed: elders gone, children who’ve long forgotten their childhood idol, and his childhood sweetheart now married. Their shared gaze reflects only life’s relentless hardships.
Director Alan Chan and master cinematographer Hu Weili use light and shadow to tell a story of constant twists and turns unfolding within society. In the film, a disheartened Andy returns to Lantau Island after facing setbacks. There, he encounters Maggie Cheung, who is about to marry, and villagers who still idolize him. With his family’s support and friends’ encouragement, he rallies, trains rigorously, and ties with Anthony Cheung in the competition. Born in the countryside, everyone possesses remarkable endurance, and he stands his ground until the very end. Recalling the protagonist in “Mao’s Last Dancer” who said it wasn’t that he didn’t feel pain, but that he couldn’t cry out in pain—because doing so would mean returning to the countryside—he was exceptionally resilient. City kids couldn’t endure such hardship, so only he remained. Zhang Yaoyang’s character always had smooth sailing, winning awards effortlessly and acting like a bully at work. Compared to Andy Lau, who grew up on Lantau Island, he had far less tolerance for pain. Even with the same broken bones, he was the first to crack.
Decades later, watching “What a Hero!” feels like looking into a mirror, seeing my younger self reflected back—just as spirited, just as clueless about the world’s limits, believing I could do anything, unaware of the value of what I possessed. Now I often tell my son: no one stays number one forever. You might be top of the village, top of the county, top of the city—even top of the province. But at Tsinghua or Peking University, every class is full of top students, and they’ll still rank first, second, third. You won’t always win. You must learn to know when to stop.
PS: The only downside of the HD restoration is seeing the shiny steel wires on both sides of Qin Pei’s boots when he’s doing handstands on the roof. Haha.
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