[FIELDWORK] A GUILTY CONSCIENCE (2023)

 

 

 

Synopsis:

 

A Guilty Conscience is a legal movie that depicts a sharp-tongued barrister Adrian Lam (portrayed by Dayo Wong) committing the grave mistake of mishandling a child abuse case, leading to the wrongful imprisonment of Jolene Tsang (Louise Wong) for 17 years. The narrative reveals the contrast between the hopelessness of the innocent underprivileged mother Jolene Tsang (Louise Wong) and the domination of the wealthy tycoon Victoria (Fish Liew) and Desmond Chung (Adam Pak), exaggerating the disparity between the rich and poor.

 

Driven by a desire to redeem himself, Adrian decides to serve the public and represent the commoners after his mistake. A few years later, an unexpected opportunity for an appeal appears. Adrian gathers his former partners Evelyn Fong (Renci Yeung) and Prince (Ho Kai Wa) to help free Jolene and clear her name, despite facing opposition from wealthy tycoons Victoria (Fish Liew) and Desmond Chung (Adam Pak), who have barrister James Tung (Michael Wong) as their private consultant. Facing tough cross-examination from prosecutor Kam Yuen Shan (Tse Kwan Ho) in court, Adrian puts forth great effort to uphold justice and bring the true culprit to justice.

 

Script:

 

FF: Welcome to our podcast today on architecture and film. I am Fiona.

 

CL: And I am Chinlok. Today we will be talking about the film A Guilty Conscience, a legal film that depicts a sharp-tongued barrister committing the grave mistake of mishandling a child abuse case, leading to the wrongful imprisonment of the innocent mother for 17 years. The film was directed by Jack Ng and screened in January of this year. I believe lots of you have watched this locally produced film or heard about it from your friends and families. Fiona, I remember you have watched it last month and you like it really much, aren’t you?

 

FF: Aha. The narrative reveals the contrast between the hopelessness of the innocent mother and the domination of the wealthy privileged tycoon, exaggerating the disparity between the rich and poor. It brings out a thought-provoking message about equality. Let’s start by introducing the plot briefly, shall we?

 

CL: Sure. In the film, the sharp-tongued barrister Adrian Lam irresponsibly mishandles and neglects a child abuse case, indirectly causing the innocent Jolene Tsang to be sentenced to prison for 17 years.

 

FF: Well, he makes a serious mistake, but Adrian is not a bad guy actually. Driven by a desire to redeem himself, Adrian decides to serve the public and represent the commoners after this regretful mistake. Fortunately, an unexpected opportunity for an appeal appears a few years later! 

 

CL: Adrian gathers his former partners Evelyn Fong and Prince to help free Jolene and clear her name, despite facing opposition from wealthy tycoons Victoria Chung and Desmond Chung, who have expert barrister James Tung as their private consultant.

FF: I like the final trial scene where Adrian faces tough cross-examination from prosecutor Kam Yuen Shan in court and shout out this sentence: Today, here, everything is wrong! He puts forth great effort to uphold justice and bring the true culprit to justice.

 

CL: Yea, that is the climax. Given it’s a legal movie, there are a lot of trial scenes. And these court scenes are filmed in the Former North Kowloon Magistracy in Sham Shui Po, which is a Grade II historic building in Hong Kong and once used as the campus of SCAD HK under the Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme.

 

FF: So it’s a really important plot device! Apart from the cost constraints to build a set, another main reason why the director chose this location to shoot is its strong presence. Let’s delve into the disparities between film and reality, and examine their respective impacts!

 

CL: The way that space, place, and buildings are presented in a film can differ greatly from reality. Filmmakers use many techniques to manipulate the audience’s perception of the environment, including colour tone, lighting, camera angles, and proportions.

 

FF: Indeed. In A Guilty Conscience, the overall colour tone is a bit blueish grey tinted with low saturation, creating the atmosphere of powerlessness and representing the injustice of the intense trials. Although the mood set as a whole is pretty hopeless, the natural light penetrating through the court windows and lighting up the faces of lawyers reflects that there are still people defending justice despite the darkness.

 

CL: Apart from the tone, camera angle, which is often used to manipulate the audience’s perception of space and buildings, is also an important and widely applied technique in the movie. A case in point is how Prince faced the hearers for court proceedings. The director placed the camera behind him with a low-angle shot. This not only narrows the distance between the two groups than actual,  but also makes the audience, which is composed of Victoria in white and her attorneys in black, appear taller and more imposing. Together with them sitting in rows and thereby occupying a large proportion of the space, completely outnumbered Prince, it creates a stressful and great force.

FF: Speaking of Victoria and her lawyers in the audience seat, the colour choice of their clothes has some meaning behind it. It’s super intriguing and suggestive. Victoria, wearing white is surrounded by lawyers wearing black. This makes her pop, thereby showcasing her prestigious status and being protected by the lawyers. Another possible reason is that white is a colour conventionally representing purity, innocence and even goodness. Yet ironically it is worn by the villain, so this might suggest that victoria has the dirty work done by the attorneys and the power to turn wrong into right, masking the truth while having a good public image.

CL: For Mise En Scene, it can be well illustrated with the example of the innocent – Jolene Tsang. Being framed and sentenced, she was kept in the dock, which has plenty of empty space around it in reality. However, the director zooms in and focuses on Jolene inside the bars. With the bars as foreground, it creates a frame-in-frame effect and reflects the oppressed and imprisoned state of Jolene, compressing the space.

FF: Agree. The space looks totally different from what we have seen in person. The Former North Kowloon Magistracy looks bright and spacious. By the way, here is a piece of good news: This heritage will be revitalised into the “NK Future” by the Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, Hong Kong. The “NK Future” will be consisting of a judicial education centre where a wide range of activities will be organised for the general public, continuing the judicial spirit and traditions of the Magistracy. 

 

CL: Wait, before the end of today’s podcast, I would like to share my favourite scene with you. In the scene, Adrian Lam looks up to the blindfolded statue of Justice, represented by Themis, the Greek Goddess of Justice and Law, on the Court of final appeal. The building looks powerful under a low-angle shot, conveying a message that the power of justice is formidable. Meanwhile, Adrian is questioning whether the notion of ‘Equality before the law’ exists. The majestic architecture already gives us the answer: a sure yes.

FF: What a meaningful message. A Guilty Conscience is worth watching and heritages like The Former North Kowloon Magistracy and the Court of final appeal are moreover worth visiting. If you wanna watch this impressive film in cinemas, buy your ticket right now! Thank you all for listening to our podcast today. Bye!

 

CL: bye.

 

FU Tik Wai, Fiona (UID: 3036078730) and LEE Chin Lok, Chinlok (UID: 3036078405)