The Lunatics (1986)

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An exceptional and at times disturbing drama, Lunatics is among the top-grossing films of all time in Hong Kong. The somewhat fact-based tale centers on a social worker's attempts to help the mentally ill people who furtively live and work on the teeming city streets. As the story opens, Fung the social worker is calming a confused patient who has been threatening patrons of the local marketplace with a meat cleaver. Later, an investigative reporter assigned to write a critical report of an apparently failing health system, Yip, catches up to the busy Fung and begins following him on his rounds. It is an eventful day and Yip sees that Fung does much good for the outcast and the dispossessed. For Fung it is just another day until he must face down a desperate husband who is making a final, bloody stand in a kindergarten to keep from losing custody of his young son. After he kills a teacher, Fung has no recourse but to kill him. Towards the end of the day, the meat-cleaver man is back at the marketplace. Again, Fung comes to the rescue, but unfortunately, a photographer's flash frightens the deranged fellow and he murders Fung. The story ends on a brighter note when Yip decides to become a social worker just like Fung. Many of Hong Kong's most popular actors make cameo appearances throughout the story. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi