When asked to describe the Hong Kong protests, I always mention the tear gas, which, along with thousands of other people, I had the misfortune of choking on. The amount used by Hong Kong police was unprecedented in my many years covering and participating in protests. But people adapted. In the Mongkok district one night in November 2019, as hundreds of police loaded their guns with tear gas canisters for use on peaceful protestors, street vendors wearily pulled on gas masks. I saw someone laying on the sidewalk wearing only shorts, a blanket, and a gas mask.
It’s hard to convey in words the intensity and absurdity of those clashes. Fortunately, a brilliant new film, shortlisted for the Oscars, shows what it looked like, felt like, smelled like, and tasted like to be in the middle of a large-scale street confrontation with Hong Kong’s police.