Zero to Hero is the rare Hong Kong-Mainland China co-production that I love (Film review)

 

The Hong Kong poster for this 

Hong Kong-Mainland China co-production

 

Zero to Hero (Hong Kong-Mainland China, 2021)

- Jimmy Wan, director and co-scriptwriter (with Lo Man-tsun)

- Starring: Sandra Ng (who also co-produced), Leung Chung-hang, Fung Ho-yeung, Louis Cheung 

 

I'll be upfront: I remain a fan of Hong Kong cinema but, in recent years, I've made it a point to steer clear of Hong Kong-Mainland China co-productions.  My reasons for this are not just political.  I tend not to like the kind of films that come out Mainland China (whose general style and outlook differs quite a bit from the cinema of Hong Kong) and I've found that many of a Hong Kong-Mainland China co-production tend to be made with Mainland Chinese audiences in mind rather than Hong Kong ones; even those whose helmers (e.g., Dante Lam, Peter Chan Ho-sun and Derek Tsang) hail from Hong Kong. 

So it was against my better judgement that I decided to go check out Zero to Hero, a Hong Kong-Mainland China co-production starring and co-produced by Peter Chan Ho-sun's wife, Sandra Ng.  And I must admit to mentally bracing myself to be disappointed by this cinematic offering when its opening scenes were indeed set in Mainland China rather than Hong Kong.   

But, as it turned out, Zero to Hero is mainly set in Hong Kong and tells a very "Lion Rock Spirit" story of a Hong Kong Paralympian and his mother who moved to Hong Kong early in his childhood.  And, as the end credits make clear, this movie is actually a dramatized bio-pic of So Wa-wai, who represented Hong Kong in five Paralympic Games, including those held in Atlanta in 1996 and Beijing in 2008, and the mother who told him that since he was not ordinary (because he's physically challenged), he should aim to be extraordinary.

 

While his mother is played throughout the film by Sandra Ng, So Wa-wai is portrayed by a number of different actors in it.  Early on in the movie, he is seen as a baby diagnosed by a Guangdong doctor with aemolytic jaundice whose resulting cerebral palsy means that he will never be able to walk or feed himself.  So is also shown as a young child (played by Choi Tin-lok) who, against the odds, shows the doctor's diagnosis to be wrong -- and, in so doing, unleashed the first wave of tears from this (re)viewer (who this movie did cause to cry quite a bit and generally emotionally impact)!    

 

Much of the heavy dramatic lifting falls to the actors who played So Wa-wai as a teenager and young adult though -- and their turning in winning performances plays a big part indeed in Zero to Hero being the thoroughly affecting movie that it is.  Fung Ho-yeung is heartbreakingly fragile but also endearingly goofy at times as the teenage So who caught the eye of athletics coach Fong (Louis Cheung) and is enlisted to run anchor in the 4 x 100 meters relay at the 1996 Atlanta Games; while Leung Chung-hang shows well how admirable a man as well as athlete So grew up to be.     

 

It shouldn't be a spoiler to reveal that So Wa-wai is a multiple medal-winning Olympian.  (You can look this up on Wikipedia, etc., after all.)  Also, that he is the current world record holder in both the 100 and 200 meters men's T36 category.  And that all this did not come easily -- and that So, and his family's struggles, are chronicled in Zero to Hero rather than just his triumphs. 

 

Really, the fact that one is able to get much out of a viewing of the film even when one knows these facts about its hero says a lot about how wonderful his story (and that of his amazingly supportive mother) is.  In sum: it may not be full of surprises but Zero to Hero is one of those sports dramas that's still well capable of thrilling, inspiring, and touching your heart.

My rating for the film: 8.0