‘The Hong Konger’: A Candid Look At Jimmy Lai's Struggle Against Chinese Totalitarianism
Image courtesy of Acton Institute, Crossfire Productions and Iron Light Labs
(REVIEW) What “The Hong Konger” lacks in style as a documentary, it more than makes up for in shining a light on the particular values of the Hong Kong heroes like Jimmy Lai standing up to totalitarianism.
“The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai’s Extraordinary Struggle For Freedom” is a documentary by the conservative think tank Acton Institute about Jimmy Lai, a rags-to-riches Hong Kong businessman and newspaper publisher who stood up to the Chinese government’s totalitarian takeover of Hong Kong, only to be jailed and see his newspaper shut down for his efforts.
“The Hong Konger” is not a documentary focused on style. Unlike documentaries like “My Scientology Movie,” where how the filmmakers document their topic is just as important as what they are documenting, this film in typical conservative fashion focuses entirely on telling the story straight with interviews and b-roll footage.
Instead, the movie’s focus is laser set on its message: showing how Jimmy Lai’s story and his fight against the communist regime in China showcases the importance of traditional Western institutions like the free market and limited government. And this is where the movie soars.
The film shows Jimmy Lai was desperately poor in China but escaped to the very wealthy Hong Kong, which was wealthy because under British rule it had instituted free markets, free enterprise and limited government — all political economy features his home country lacked.
Jimmy succeeded in Hong Kong, and when he read the classic conservative book “The Road To Serfdom” by Austrian economist F.A. Hayek, he understood why — because free markets with rule of law create prosperity and top-down government meddling creates poverty.
This is an important part of the battle against Chinese totalitarianism that is often ignored. Almost everyone is against Chinese totalitarianism, but showing how Western institutions are the good guys in this story makes people on both sides of the political spectrum squirm.
Those on the left are uncomfortable that the reason for Hong Kong’s success and the value systems of the “good guys” in the fight against oppression are the values of their own conservative enemies in the U.S.
Those on the right are uncomfortable because, as the documentary points out, they have a lot of business interests in China, so defending the free markets they say they love might mean they have to make less money.
None of these facts are terribly controversial. Everyone knows that the Chinese government’s totalitarianism is problematic. And even the left-leaning site Vox has run multiple articles about the importance of Western institutions like the free markets. (“Bill Gates tweeted out a chart and sparked a huge debate about global poverty.” “About 200 years ago, the world started getting rich. Why?” “Bernie Sanders is right the economy is rigged. He’s dead wrong about why.”)
But these facts are so rarely understood by younger generations and so rarely explained in mass culture they seem less relevant to the Western imagination, hence the fact that #FreeJimmyLai isn’t a viral hashtag in the same way that #BlackLivesMatter was. “The Hong Konger,” in its small way, hopes to change that.
One particular section of note in the movie is one where the filmmakers highlight Jimmy Lai’s faith. It’s quite interesting that his journey to faith mirrors so many in the West. He wasn’t terribly interested in Christianity for most of his life, but his wife was passionate about it, so he went to church for her. Yet, when he embraced it, he found its ability to give comfort and meaning in his fight against the evil in the world to be something he valued.
Likewise, according to writers like Leon Podles of “Losing The Good Portion,” Western Christianity has predominently appealed to women since the 17th century, but where men have been attracted to Christianity, it’s partly been because they’ve understood it as part of the cosmic battle between good and evil in which they had an important part to play.
For those who want a deeply informative and inspiring documentary about one of the great battles of good versus evil in our time, watch “The Hong Konger” for free on YouTube. Like me, it will probably inspire you to say #FreeJimmyLai and #FreeHongKong on social media.
“The Hong Konger” is free to watch on YouTube, where it has already received 2.7 million views.
Joseph Holmes is an award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic living in New York City. He is co-host of the podcast “The Overthinkers” and its companion website theoverthinkersjournal.com, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers.