In Broad Daylight is a devastating depiction of the breaking down of two fundamental parts of any well-functioning society: a humane and effective social welfare system and the preservation of journalism as a tool to speak truth to power.
Written and directed by Lawrence Kwan Chun Kan, this Hong Kong film centres around Kay (Jennifer Yu), a journalist working for a news outlet that receives a tip-off about the abuse of residents at Rainbow Bridge Care Home. The film portrays Hong Kong's social welfare system, like so many around the world, as a crumbling, underfunded and overstretched public service. Individuals requiring subsidized care are put on an absurd 15-year waitlist, inevitably forcing families to turn to the State's outsourced private care homes that are routinely exempt from inspections by the Social Welfare Department.
Kay goes undercover at the care home to expose the extent of the abuse of residents. However dubious her methods may be, Kay and her colleagues appear to be the only people capable of making these vulnerable residents' lives better. The casually callous abuse and neglect of the residents — all of whom have differing needs ranging from the elderly to the mentally incapacitated — is harrowingly painful to watch but this is a film rooted in realism.
Lawrence Kwan Chun hides behind nothing to soften the edges of that reality and in so doing, this film becomes a powerful clarion call for change and compassion. Bowie Lam does a wonderful job portraying an ostensibly caring member of staff but behind closed doors is someone capable of committing monstrous acts. When being questioned about it, he poignantly points out the moral double standards at play; “It's easy to criticise because you don't know how lonely disabled people are. It was this society who abandoned them.”
The obstacles faced by modern-day journalists form an interesting second arc to the narrative approach of this film. Kay's various attempts to spotlight the abuse aren't helped by budget cuts and the risk of the unit being made redundant. Her supervisor who is clearly jaded by the demands of a job that doesn't give much back, indicates to Kay that the case may not create a sufficiently clickbait headline — such is the increasingly common feature of journalism these days to stay afloat.
In Broad Daylight was nominated for Best Film and Best Director at the Shanghai International Film Festival, as well as receiving five nominations at the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taiwan. However, the film might be better improved for an international audience if the subtitles were more considered. At times, they moved at a frenetic pace on screen — you blink and miss a crucial part of the dialogue. There also could have been more narrative-building around the initial exposé of how the residents were being bathed, so that we can better understand how public reaction plays a part.
Despite those points, this film does successfully get its message across to the audience — the positive impact of telling someone's story. In this digital world where fake news is abundant and newspapers struggle to make ends meet, In Broad Daylight serves as a useful reminder of the power of journalism uncovering the truth and a reminder that film can also hold the same sway.
In Broad Daylight releases in UK cinemas on January 19.
