By Lee Hyo-won

HONG KONG — A nightclub taxi driver carries on listlessly, a teacher is thrown out of work, and a jobless draftsman is reduced — to everyone's unconcealed shock and dismay — to selling his blood: Such characters are portrayed conceptually yet deftly, in an affectionately embracing tone and not without genuine humor.

The 1953 film "In the Face of Demolition" is representative of realist Hong Kong cinema of the period that reflects themes of solidarity among the urban poor. The story is set mostly in an apartment building inhabited by people desperately clutching onto the lower rungs of the middle class. The film suggests these individuals' problems are inevitable in light of the social climate and the greed of ruthless landlords.

For Koreans, Cantonese cinema may call to mind martial arts heroes, and interestingly, the abovementioned film by Li Tie actually sees a teenaged Bruce Lee as a newspaper boy.

Cinema is a window into a certain time and place, and Asian films made in the wake of tumultuous modern historical events — namely Japanese imperialism in the early 20th century — provide a telling glimpse of a shared experience.

During the colonial period (1910-45), Korean cinema was entirely controlled by the Japanese, with the use of Korean language even banned in films in 1942. Cinema became a propaganda tool for the imperialist government. More drastically, in Hong Kong, film production ceased altogether for three years and eight months during Japanese occupation there (1941-45).

Though the foreign authorities failed to establish a collaborationist film industry in Hong Kong, the Japanese destroyed many pre-war films in order to extract silver nitrate for military use. In Korea the onset of the Korean War (1950-53) saw the destruction of many.

Nevertheless the affect of war was considerable, Cantonese cineastes were forced to star in propaganda projects, and would be sharply criticized after liberation. One such individual is Tsi Lo Lin, an opera singer-turned-movie star. She now lives in Canada but still refuses to speak to the press.

Following liberation from Japan, the film industry flourished in both Korea and Hong Kong, opening up what is largely recognized as the golden era for cinema.

Both industries in the 1950s and 1960s saw films capturing similar realist elements that carry strong social commentaries and moral messages. In the Sino cinema scene, films depicted not so much direct battle scenes but stories that captured the human spirit of the times. Films such as "Road" (1959), "Tormented Beauty" (1958) and "Sea" (1963) show the virtues of resilience, compassion and helping one another. Korean cinema also saw works such as "Viva Freedom!" (1946) that celebrated freedom fighters, but postwar cinema is largely dominated by melodramatic works such as "Madame Freedom" (1956) that reflect changing family values.

Among Hong Kong films made at the time, the works of Union Film Enterprise stands out. Post-war Hong Kong saw an annual output of more than 300 films, partly due to the high demand for films in Southeast Asia.

"But the large quantity often compromised the quality of the work, and Union Film stepped up to begin a sort of 'clean-up campaign,' to produce works with a purpose," said Fu Winnie Wai-yee, programmer of the Hong Kong Film Archive. The aforementioned "In the Face of Demolition" is an example of a Union Film, which speaks as the voice of the struggling masses.

The Hong Kong Film Archive houses more than 9,000 Cantonese film titles, including 1950s and 1960s works that were discovered in U.S. Chinatowns, said Richie Lam Kok-sing, head of the institute. The archive also donated some 10 South Korean films, mostly action movies from the 1980s including co-productions with Hong Kong filmmakers, to the Korean Film Archive, he said.

For more information visit www.filmarchive.gov.hk.