Background
& Story Plot
Directed by Herman Yau Lai-To, Sara is a R-rated film about a
dropout-turned-journalist’s desperate past and how she uses her body capital to
change her life.
Being raped in the middle of the night by
her step-father, an owner of a stationary shop who provides a safe shelter to
the family, Sara (played by Charlene Choi) was “convinced” by her ignorant
mother that, “It’s better giving away her virginity to him than some random
young men” and therefore, she does not resort to justice (report to the police)
but remains silent for the sake of her mother and her little brother’s
survival. The theme of “uncertainty” of her future is enhanced by the excellent
choice of Music –Que Sera Sera (What
will be, will be) – a parallel of Sara and Doy-may’s life. Dok-may’s disappearance
also adds to the ending disunites of the movie.
Women
Subjectivity
Did she know they are wrong? Yes, she
surely does. But she rather decides to be free and take advantage of her youth
for good. Sara displays tremendous courage to leave home and take control of
her own life at the age of 16. Yet, her reflexive thought of “seeing herself in
Dok-may” is somehow judgmental towards her own way of climbing up the social
ladder. Did she regret betraying her own body? If she does not see them (the
prostitutes) as inferior or weak, why would she desire to change the status
quo?
The director raises an interesting question
whether or not “knowledge is power” - in the suicide scene, Sara suffers from
her inner struggle-still being trapped in her complicated past and unable to be
honest with her journalist boyfriend (played by Ryan Lau) fearing that he would
not continue loving her if he knew what she did. Confronted by her own
consciousness and her fears of rejection, she becomes vulnerable even after
trying to improve Dok-may who she sees as a shallow of her own. Her original
choice does not give her power but weakness.
Class Shame
Sara is a character-led film where the story
is told from the first-person narrative through monologues. She is a smart,
pretty yet identified as marginalized individual. She must manage to survive by being street
smart: selling pirated DVDs in streets, sleeping in the park and selling her
body in exchange for “a brighter future” to a high-ranked Education Bureau
officer Kim (played by Simon Yam). The film deals with examples of social differentiation
where underprivileged girls like Sara and Doy-may sell their bodies for money. Only
if they receive education, can they change their lives. But it is sarcastic when
Kim says “Knowledge can change one’s life” when he buys sex from an under-educated
lady who yearns for good education.
Character Analysis
Character Analysis
Sara is a character of depth- she is an
opportunist, full of motives and calculation but not too sophisticated, confusing
her emotions with her ‘sex trade’ partner and true love. She is also violent in
forcing Dok-may, a naïve underage to be filmed, making it very ambiguous to say
whether she truly sympathizes with her or not.
Symbols
of Power & Enforced Gender Stereotypes
The film reveals a typical male-dominant
society where women are subordinate and submissive to misbehaviors (sexually
abused by Sara’s father and being sexually objectified by Kim). They are passive
and mute (as in the allegory of illiteracy of her mother), comparing to the
financially strong, powerful (occupying high position of society) and older men
who offers money and shelters. These are repeatedly enforced gender roles and
stereotypes in local cinema.
Chau Hin Ling, 10519429
Word count : 600 words
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