Ordinary Hero

平凡英雄

China, 2022, colour, 2.35:1, 96 mins.

Director: Chen Guohui 陈国辉 [Tony Chan].

Rating: 4/10.

Race-against-time medical drama is a melodramatic meld of weepie and heart-warmer, with little suspense.

STORY

Hotan prefecture, southwest Xinjiang province, northwest China, the present day, 30 April. During an accident with the tractor of his elder brother Abdu (Erfan Aziz), seven-year-old Merdan (Parman Parhat) has his right arm severed at the shoulder. Abdu, who is fed up with country life, blames himself and drives Merdan and their distraught mother (Arzugul Reshit) to Hotan People’s Hospital. En route they are helped by an old stallholder (Hayrat Omar) who clears the way through a crowd and by a motorcycle policewoman (Gulnazar) who calls an ambulance. Merdan’s condition is stabilised by orthopaedic surgeon Akbar (Nijat Tursun), who tells Abdu that he can close up the wound but, if he wants his brother’s arm sewn back on, he will need to take him to Urumqi, 1,400 kilometres away, where facilities are much better. As the accident occurred about 19:30, the arm must be re-vascularised no later than 03:30. The last plane to Urumqi that evening is called back when already on the runway; as it is fully booked, a family of three has to be persuaded to give up their seats. China Southern Airlines flight CZ6820 finally takes off at 00:09, captained by Xie Huiyang (Huang Xiaoming) and with Zhou Yan (Li Bingbing) as purser. Also on board is young orthopaedic surgeon Liu Rui (Zhang Yishan), who recently resigned from working under his teacher Akbar after accidentally bungling an operation. Xie Huiyang requests a quicker, direct route to Urumqi, which will save 10 minutes; this is okayed by the airforce. During the flight Merdan’s wound starts bleeding and Zhou Yan asks if there is a doctor on board. Liu Rui agonises about offering his help, but meanwhile Zhou Yan staunches the bleeding. When Merdan starts crying in pain, Liu Rui finally steps forward and, during a sudden turbulent spell, performs an emergency needle decompression to ease pressure in the boy’s chest. When Merdan later falls asleep and can’t be wakened, a traditional performance troupe that’s on board starts playing and singing to wake him up. At 01:18 the plane starts its descent to Urumqi, but strong surface winds make the landing tricky. Merdan finally arrives at the hospital at 02:12 – which gives overworked deputy chief physician Lin Li (Feng Shaofeng) just over an hour to sew Merdan’s arm back on.

REVIEW

A race-against-time medical drama, in which a young Uyghur boy in Xinjiang must have his arm sewn back on within eight hours, Ordinary Hero 平凡英雄 is a melodramatic mixture of weepie and heart-warmer that celebrates the actions of everyday people within and without the services sector. Based on a true story, the screenplay by You Xiaoying 游晓颖 (Love Education 相爱相亲, 2017; plus her much better Sister 我的姐姐, 2021) is functional rather than original as, with on-screen clocks counting down the hours, one after another crisis ensues as the kid is first whisked to a local hospital and then squeezed onto the last flight out to the provincial capital, Urumqi. Amid a large cast peppered with names, actress Li Bingbing 李冰冰 stands out as the plane’s purser, while actor Feng Shaofeng 冯绍峰 does his best to inject some personality into the role of a surgeon. Chen Guohui 陈国辉 [Tony Chan], who last made the ho-hum (but financially very successful) firefighter spectacle The Bravest 烈火英雄 (2019), directs with a documentary-style edginess but fails to engender much real suspense. Mainland box office for the National Day holiday release has been a polite RMB214 million. [Final tally was RMB215.5 million.]

Hong Kong-born Chen was previously best known for a string of good-looking rom-coms, including Hot Summer Days 全城热恋 热辣辣 (2010), Love in Space 全球热恋 (2011), both co-directed with Hong Kong phoographer Xia Yongkang 夏永康 [Wing Shya], and the very slick, Shanghai-set Bride Wars 新娘大作战 (2015) and Fall in Love Like a Star 怦然星动 (2015). His move into big-budget spactacle with The Bravest (whose Chinese title literally means “Fire Heroes”) was unconvincing, and this latest exploration of heroism does little to correct the feeling. Characterisation is either thin or superficial, most roles are purely generic (selfless airline workers, hospital staff, Uyghur locals), and every up and down in the story is loyally underscored by Hong Kong veteran Jin Peida 金培达 [Peter Kam] with his elastic score. The hand-held camerawork by Hong Kong’s Feng Yuanwen 冯远文 [Edmond Fung] is very similar to his work on Covid drama Chinese Doctors 中国医生 (2021) and aeroplane thriller The Captain 中国机长 (2019), though without the tension of those two movies (both directed by veteran Liu Weiqiang 刘伟强 [Andrew Lau]). Ditto the tight, restless cutting by Hong Kong’s Chen Zhongming 陈忠明, who’s worked on several action movies including the excellent Firestorm 风暴 (2013).

After so many questionable international productions, it’s good to see Li, now 49 but still with the screen goods, back in a Mainland production – her first sizeable role since costume fantasy Zhongkui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal 钟馗伏魔 雪妖魔灵 (2015) – though her part of the plane’s experienced chief stewardess who’s fazed by nothing (similar to that of Yuan Quan 袁泉 in The Captain) is hardly worthy of her talents and keeps trying to reach for some backstory to give it more substance. Feng is likeable enough as a surgeon waiting to receive his young patient, but it’s a slim part. As the plane’s captain, Huang Xiaoming 黄晓明 has almost nothing to do except look steadfast, while other roles, including Hong Kong veteran Zhu Yin 朱茵 [Athena Chu] as a passenger and Uyghur actress Gulnazar 古力娜扎 (Don’t Forget I Love You 不要忘记我爱你, 2022) as a sexy motorcycle cop, are just bits. Though not his fault, Uyghur newcomer Erfan Aziz’s strong resemblance to a young Tom Cruise is perpetually distracting, especially given his lamely written part.

The film was shot in Urumqi and Qingdao during Sep-Oct 2021.

CREDITS

Presented by Bona Pictures (CN), Tianshan Film Studio (CN), China Southern Airlines (CN), China Film (CN), Huaxia Film Distribution (CN), Alibaba Pictures (Beijing) (CN), Beijing Top Win Investment Group (CN).

Script: You Xiaoying. Photography: Feng Yuanwen [Edmond Fung]. Editing: Chen Zhongming. Music: Jin Peida [Peter Kam]. Art direction: Zhu Wenlong. Styling: You Ying. Visual effects: Li Geng.

Cast: Li Bingbing (Zhou Yan, airline purser), Feng Shaofeng (Lin Li, deputy chief physician in Urumqi), Huang Xiaoming (Xie Huiyang, aeroplane captain), Lin Yongjian (Tang Wei, Hotan airport general manager), Zhang Yishan (Liu Rui, young orthopaedic surgeon), Parman Parhat (Merdan), Erfan Aziz (Abdu, Merdan’s elder brother), Arzugul Reshit (Merdan’s mother), Nijat Tursun (Akbar, orthopaedic surgeon in Hotan), Zhou Yiran (Yu Li, airline stewardess), Wang Zixuan (Xia Yan), Zeng Yue (Zhang Muyun), Hani Kyzy (dance teacher), Güldiyar Anayit (kindergarten teacher), Hayrat Omar (stallholder), Gulnazar (Ainur, motorcycle policewoman), Baikeli [Barkley] (Aisha), Hu Bingqing (Zhang Qiaoling), Na Zhidong (Luo Jianguo), Xi Yuli (Shen Qian), Sun Xilun (Luo Qiyao), Zhu Yin [Athena Chu] (performing troupe head), Wu Haochen (Wang Chenhao), Zhang Jing (Wang Jingkai), Riyat Yusup (Kurbanjan), Akram Askar (drunk at airport), Ma Tianyu (Song Hui, airline duty supervisor), Du Chun (Chen Liang, airport command centre deputy director), Guo Jinglin (Kang Bo), Barna Parhat (young girl), Shi Haozheng (airline safety officer), Zhang Zixian (Li Qiang), Liu Jun (Ma Zijun), Wang Ting (Dai Yu), Guo Jiahao (Jiang Xuedong), Huang Yi (Zhang Rongqin, airport emergency centre deputy head), Jia Qing (Luo Bing).

Release: China, 30 Sep 2022.