The Hong Kong government banned an outdoor screening of the 2008 Batman movie “The Dark Knight,” scheduled for an event next Thursday.
Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism of Hong Kong, was asked about the incident at a press conference today. He said that Hong Kong has an established mechanism for handling movie screenings. He “believes” in the past the government handled the screenings according to the same mechanism, and he trusts that the decision was made appropriately and legally.
“The Dark Knight” was filmed in Hong Kong, including streets scenes in the Central district and the top and exterior wall of the two skyscrapers of the International Financial Center (IFC). At that time, the HKSAR government issued a statement expressing its welcome.
Maisie Cheng, then Commissioner of Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority of Hong Kong, said that Hong Kong welcomed the film team to Hong Kong to shoot “The Dark Knight.”
Jack So Chak-kwong, then chairman of the Hong Kong Film Development Council, pointed out, “I am sure that after the international release of the Batman movie, it will further enhance Hong Kong’s image and attract more tourists.”
On Oct. 27, 2021, Hong Kong’s Legislative Council passed a bill to increase the censorship of films. The Chief Executive is empowered to ban a work even if approved if it is considered to be a threat to national security. Meanwhile, the maximum sentence for anyone showing such films was raised to three years .
Tenky Tin Kai-man, a spokesman for the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, said before the bill was passed, that the industry could not judge which films would break the law.
He said movies are always an illusion, and asked, if foreign movies have anti-national themes, would they pass the censorship? For example, in the movie “Die Hard,” a skyscraper is blown up in New York, “Will they relate it to blowing up of the IFC?”
The background of “The Dark Knight” is the time before the of sovereignty of Hong Kong was handed over to China. Batman, as the main character, entered and exited Hong Kong through irregular channels, and there were scenes of blowing up the Hong Kong IFC.
In the plot, Batman was seizing a criminal, a Chinese accountant who laundered money in Hong Kong. The accountant said that the Chinese would not extradite other Chinese, so he fled to Hong Kong and felt he was protected by the authorities. Batman bested the accountant, who moaned that his subordinates bribed the Hong Kong police, but no one rescued him.
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In the movie, there is a courtroom scene showing an attempt to shoot a lawyer that failed because the pistol did not fire.“Made in China! If you want to kill a public servant, I recommend you buy American!” prosecutor Harvey Dent said to a defence lawyer.
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Edward Leung Tin-kei, a former local political leader in Hong Kong, once quoted some dialogue from the film in his speech at the assembly of Hong Kong National Party, “The night is darkest just before the dawn. The dawn is coming.”
The Dark Knight was not approved in Mainland China when it was released in 2008.
Tin also predicted last year that the government would feel “embarrassed” and “unbearable” if some old films, which are alleged to violate the “National Security Law,” were allowed to be screened today.
In response to an enquiry from a Hong Kong media, a spokesperson for The Grounds, an outdoor event venue where outdoor film screenings are held, pointed out that the Office of Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (OFNAA) of Hong Kong believes that the film depicts violence at a level that is not suitable for outdoor screening.
However, upcoming movie tickets to be shown at The Grounds, such as the horror movie “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” are still on sale.
