Story of a Discharged Prisoner (1967)

Safecracker Lee Cheuk-hong (Patrick Tse Yin) is the discharged prisoner of the title. Locked away for 15 years at Stanley Prison, he's released with two years of probation to follow. But a new start outside prison confines isn't easily achieved. Lee cannot return home -- his arrest was kept secret from his brother Chi-sun (Wong Wai) -- and reform is a difficult proposition in late-'60s Hong Kong.

Nightclub owner and gang boss One-eye Jack (Sek Kin) knows Lee's reputation as a safecracker and would dearly like his services. But Lee wants nothing to do with it, choosing instead to find legitimate work. The unimpressed crime boss resorts to pressure tactics to bring Lee into his service, informing a string of employers about his past and eventually telling his brother. The police aren't much help either, with Inspector Lui (Lung Kong) hounding Lee's tail after the ex-inmate refuses work as his informant. With few people willing to support his hopes of reform, Lee struggles to find ensure a footing in society and a bright future for family and friends.

An initial credit sequence featuring a masked lady slinking round a glittery globe, clad in a figure-hugging cat-suit, is as kitsch as Story of a Discharged Prisoner gets. Director Lung Kong's film thereafter settles into forceful drama, casting a compassionate eye over Hong Kong society and spinning a good yarn to boot.

The theme of reform is unmistakable throughout the production. The narrative rarely departs from the notion that it is easier for an ex-prisoner to return to crime than it is to head down the straight-and-narrow. Only at the Hong Kong Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society (DPAS*), which Lee eventually enters, does the viewer witness formal aid and halfway house rehabilitation. The theme makes for an intriguing parallel to Lung Kong's next film, The Window, which also deals with a criminal's unsuccessful attempt at breaking away from the wrong side of the law. Presented straightforward in black and white, Story of a Discharged Prisoner rarely deviates from a serious approach to its subject but still manages to entertain with an enjoyable plot and distinctive players. Characters are colourful, especially Sek Kin as the chief nasty and crippled beggar Uncle Tor who sees the bright side of Hong Kong society -- he meets only the generous people that approach him with money. Music, credited to Wong Gui-yan (and Fung Wah for the Chinese music), includes a club guitar band, background jazz and even a traditional orchestra at the DPAS.

Viewers with a specific interest in old Hong Kong should find much of note in Story of a Discharged Prisoner, with locations well used throughout. Construction sites are common, and the urban areas feature many prominent buildings up close; from the open Central District down to a Nathan Road shop window touting "The Young London Look" in its British Week promotion. The city features in spoken comment on how much Hong Kong changed during Lee's incarceration, and backgrounds at times fill with new high-rise public housing blocks. Lee's first place of call after his release is a squatter village, especially interesting as it's sited on reclaimed land at Kowloon Bay. Whether in the director's intentions or not, touches like this make Story of a Discharged Prisoner a fascinating look back at Hong Kong and its people.

* Names of people and places in this review do not match those in the subtitles. The romanisation casts Patrick Tse as "Lee Jwo Horng" (itself an alias), Lung Kong as "Inspector Leu Chiu" and the DPAS as the "Probation Club".

* The DPAS has since been renamed as the Society for the Rehabilitation of Offenders and continues its work combating discrimination against ex-prisoners and drug users.

* Film screened at the 25th Hong Kong International Film Festival. Pictures from the HKIFF.

Credits:
Written and directed by Patrick Lung Kong
Starring Patrick Tse Yin, Sek Kin, Mak Kai, Lung Kong, Chan Chai-chung, Man Lei, Wong Wai, Kar Ling, Doo Ping and Monita Lopez

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