Who’s Afraid of Nathan Law?

Writer and Director: Joe Piscatella

The adage is wrong. The revolution will be televised, after all. After watching this film, it’s not hard to disagree with this opinion made by one of the many talking heads speaking about the recent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. The revolution is all there to see, captured by TV cameras and the protestors’ mobile phones. The tear gas and the water cannons used by the Hong Kong police are captured for the whole world to witness.

In its early days, 2014, the protest was dubbed The Umbrella Movement as the streets of Hong Kong were thronged with people carrying brightly coloured umbrellas above their heads. But these weren’t to protect against the sun or the rain but to offer scant protection when the police sprayed tear gas into the crowd. The activists of the protests that came later during 2019 and 2020 were more prepared, as they wore goggles and rudimentary gas masks against the weapons of the Chinese-backed police.

It seems incredible that these years of dissent by Hong Kongers were started by students in high school and then later when they were at university. Nathan Law, Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow were three of the most prominent leaders of the Umbrella Movement, created when China reneged on its promise to retain democracy in Hong Kong after 1997 when, of course, Britain handed the sovereignty of the island back to China. Chris Patten, the last Governor of Hong Kong, chooses his words very carefully in his interview.

The unassuming Wong was a seasoned activist even before the Umbrella Movement even started. While at school, he had organised protests against the pro-Beijing curriculum. When Nathan Law started university, he found himself sharing the same platforms as Wong and Chow, this time after China resolved that only Beijing-backed candidates could stand for the position of Chief Executive of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong. The three young leaders, with Chow being dubbed the Princess of Democracy, led a popular campaign against China, which resulted in protestors taking over the prestigious Civic Square.

While Wong and Law were arrested, the occupation of key streets lasted for 79 days. Not able to change the political situation from without, Law stood as a member of the Legislature in 2016, Chow and Wong still being too young to stand. They created their own political party, too, called Demosistō. Law won a seat, becoming, at the age of 23, the youngest lawmaker ever in the history of the Legislature.

This achievement would be enough for any film, but the story continues with as many twists and turns as a fictional political thriller. And with numerous shots of the protests and interviews, seemingly conducted at the time, with Law, Wong and Chow, this documentary is as intimate as it is epic. Joe Piscatella’s film makes for gripping viewing.

Law now lives in London and has promised that Hong Kong will obtain democracy in his lifetime. But with Law at the top of the list of China’s most wanted men, his vow is a precarious one. His passion and eloquence will take him far, and if the film’s title needs an answer, it’s China.

Who’s Afraid of Nathan Law is screening in cinemas from 20 September and arrives on thePBS streaming platform from 23 September.