Life Without Principle is about how ordinary people’s lives are turned upside down by the wheeling-dealing antics of bankers and other powerful groups in the financial world. It is actually made up of three separate storylines but the three strands are so skillfully woven together that the audience are in for a real treat, a real rollercoaster ride that will leave you clamouring for more when the film ends.
Life Without Principle centres on three main characters: a policeman, a financial adviser and a triad gang member. The policeman risks his life day in day out to protect the citizens of Hongkong but at the same time he is constantly harrassed by his wife who wants to buy new properties for investment. The second protagonist is a young woman who works at a bank selling investment products, often to clueless individuals of the public. The third protagonist, brilliantly played by Lau Ching Wan (one of the best actors from Asia), is a lowly member of a triad gang. He looks like a scum but he is fiercely loyal to his boss and his fellow “brothers” and is prepared to risk his own life to help his mates. But their lives are turned upside down in different ways when a loan shark withdraws HK$10m in cash and then dies, with the money inadvertently ending up on the laps of two of the main protagonists.
Set against the backrop of the financial crisis in 2011, with the collpase of the Greek economy and turmoil in the Eurozone, Life Without Principle shows us that even ordinary guys who think they have nothing to do with global finance are affected by this crisis, and in our big bad world, it’s often among the little guys in the streets that we find true heroism and noble deeds. Without spoiling the story for you, this film has a really unexpected ending, a refreshingly tongue-in-cheek two-fingered salute to the bigwigs and fat cats that run the global economy and in turn control so much of our lives.
Life Without Principle was premiered in the UK at the Hong Kong Film Festival in Covent Garden in July 2012 and was warmly received by the London audience. It is without doubt one of the best Hong Kong films ever made and will remain an all-time classic for many years to come. Life Without Principle is available in DVD from YesAsia.
