Directed by Herman Yau
Content warning: Graphic violence, including towards children, violent sexual assault (thankfully not towards children), cannibalism, torture, and violence committed by police officers all feature prominently. You have been warned.
Following on the heels of Ebola Syndrome, I bring you The Untold Story, a shocking, and shockingly successful Hong Kong Category III film. While it doesn’t have nearly as crazy of a ‘hook’ as Ebola Syndrome, it is a true crime “based on a true story” movie, which adds a certain something to it that I’ll get into a bit later. Now we need to answer a question I didn’t think I would have to consider, can this movie be shocking without the use of Ebola?
After killing a man in Hong Kong, a degenerate monster flees to a foreign territory to avoid the police, while also killing a restaurant owner and claiming to be the new owner of the shop. No, this isn’t a copy paste of Ebola Syndrome, that’s actually the premise of this movie as well. Once the murderer, now known under the fake name Wong, gets blamed for the murder and disappearance of a local woman, this sets off a legal battle between him and the police. The police know that Wong is guilty (and so do we because we are shown as much) but they have no physical evidence, and need to get a confession out of the man by any means necessary.
While this isn’t an extremely complicated story, I was surprised by the level of depth that it had compared to the juvenile nature of the previous Category III film, Ebola Syndrome. Even with knowing that Wong is guilty, it’s rather upsetting seeing a team of police officers devise, and utilize, various torture methods to coerce a confession out of a man who they don’t strictly know has committed these crimes. These scenes are shocking today and I can only imagine what it must have been like to see them in the early 90s, especially as they depict the Macau police extremely critically.
What makes this extra strange though, is how comfortable The Untold Story is with playing fast and loose with tonal shifts. In one scene, you’ll see Wong committing a brutal and graphic sexual assault, then minutes later see a bunch of cops cracking jokes with each other like they’re in a Police Academy movie. And this isn’t a “calm before the storm” moment, this is while they are in the middle of a murder investigation that they are complaining about because they have to do gross stuff while simultaneously lusting after prostitutes the chief of police continuously escorts around the precinct. There’s even a running gag where the lone female cop is upset that the men of the precinct don’t think she’s sexy, and that is all so out of balance with the murder stuff that it might be brilliant.
One of my personal favorite things about The Untold Story is how it depicts violence. There’s nothing glamorous or fun about this, it’s simply a dehumanizing means to an end regardless of who is performing it. There’s a particular sequence in a prison holding cell that’s hard to watch, and while I won’t spoil it here, it is simultaneously ugly, cathartic, and satirical.
The Untold Story isn’t for everyone, that much should be obvious, but if this sounds intriguing to you then I would recommend that you track it down. I think it’s on Tubi but that may change, and while this isn’t an easy viewing, it’s certainly worth it just for the satirical elements dealing with the police, the media, and the overall justice system. Also, I guess that since the movie has been made, it’s technically The Told Story and not the Untold Story…sorry, had to end with a lame joke to brighten this up just a tad.