City Of SARS (2003)

Announced at the height of the SARS outbreak earlier this year, Steve Cheng's City of SARS is the only Hong Kong-made feature film based on the disease and its spread. Though dumped without fanfare into Hong Kong cinemas for a weak run in September, long after the disease had left headlines, City of SARS may get some mileage on video thanks to its novelty and historical value.

Perhaps envisioned to capture snapshots of the disease's various impacts, City of SARS is broken up into three short stories. The first part is based in a hospital, tracing SARS' spread among health workers. As colleagues fall ill and die, staff react in different ways. First there's nurse Viola (Kristy Yang) who quarantines herself and, against her parents' wishes, stays on the frontline. And then there's Dr Chen (Patrick Tam), who freaks out and resigns before he gets back into the team spirit.

The second tale deals with the tenants of "Amoi Gardens" - the film's take on Amoy Gardens hard hit by the disease. After SARS strikes Block E, young resident Wendy (ex-Cookie singer Serena Po) is exiled from work by paranoid co-workers and moved to a quarantine camp with her neighbours. Deserted by her boyfriend, Wendy finds welcome cheer from optimist neighbour (Edwin Siu).

The third act ditches the sentimentality of the first hour to deliver entertainment instead. Brash businessman Lam Hung (Eric Tsang) falls on hard times during the SARS crisis when his karaoke and restaurant investments fail. As his income sinks and debts spiral, Lam opts for suicide. An "accident" is needed, so not to jeopardise his insurance plan, and he decides that deliberately catching SARS is the best means to his end.

After the two tiresome parts before it, the third story is more colourful with Tsang stealing the show before a supposedly poignant finale under national flags. Production standards are sometimes clumsy, especially with clearly unsuitable or repeated locations and writing often laden with heavy-handed melodrama. Although the script skims through its limited scenarios, the writers are still able to suggest the sense of panic witnessed in Hong Kong when filming was underway. Overseas viewers may see some aspects (like people fearing to touch elevator buttons, thorough cleaning of suspect co-workers desks or people avoiding others) as overblown but locals should remember all this behavior and more.

Credits:

Directed by Steve Cheng
Starring Eric Tsang, Patrick Tam, Kristy Yang, Serena Po, Edwin Siu, Jerry Lam, Gabriel Harrison, Amanda Lee and Chin Kar-lok