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Review
by Kozo: |
Respect
can easily be given to The Miracle Box, a Christian-themed
drama from Hong Kong-based Media Evangelism that which chronicles
the life and times of doctor Joanna Tse, who was martyred
by the outbreak of SARS in 2003. Her story is an inspirational
one, promoting hope in the face of adversity, plus faith
in the Big Man above. As portrayed by Ada Choi Siu-Fun,
Joanna Tse was a angel-like doctor, putting her responsiblities
and love above all else, and never giving up when the people
around her probably did. It's a nice message, and director
Adrian Kwan handles it with obvious loving respect. Too
bad the movie itself really isn't much of a movie.
When we first meet Joanna
Tse, she's on the cusp of fulfilling her dream: to study
medicine in Australia. She's also in a difficult relationship
with fellow doctor Albert Lau (Tse Kwan-Ho), which is difficult
not because of any interpersonal issues (no, these two love
each other so much that one expects flowers to bloom in
frame), but because Albert has bone marrow cancer. Luckily,
he's just recovered, and seems to have a clean bill of health.
What follows is nearly one hour of hemming and hawing as
the two recount their courtship (he was a doctor while she
was an intern), and decide whether or not to take the plunge
and make it official in a church. The outcome isn't in doubt,
but the ensuing drama involving whether or not to buy an
antique diamond ring is trite at best and annoyingly mushy
at worse. At the very least, Tse Kwan-Ho and Ada Choi bring
intelligence to their performances, but the drama itself
belongs on a TV drama and not on the big screen.
Concurrent with the ongoing
romance between the two never-disagreeing lovers are a few
other important plotlines. Joanna must decide if she wants
to go to Australia still, and Albert spends his time extolling
the virtues of the "Miracle Box". The quite-literal
deux ex machina of the film, the Miracle Box is a
folded paper box give by Albert to nearly every character
in the film, and is meant to be a conduit to the Lord. Basically,
a troubled or sickly individual should put all their troubles
and difficulties into the box and let God sort it all out
for them. The Box is basically a message of hope given material
paper form, and it's a winning enough device—once or
twice. Ultimately, however, the film leans on the Miracle
Box to a maddening degree, such that everyone who comes
in contact with it begins to see and spread its message
of hope. Yes, this is a Christian film, but it would be
nice if "film" were the operative word and not
"Christian".
More problems do crop up for
the couple. Albert experiences a relapse of his cancer,
and eventually the issue of SARS does come up. However,
that doesn't happen until the last TEN MINUTES of the film,
which does nothing for creating real drama. The choices
and difficulties faced by Joanna Tse while dealing with
the SARS-inflicted people of Hong Kong are never given anything
more than a nominal thumbs up by the eternally perky doctor.
Basically, she brings the same approach to the dark days
of early 2003 as she did to her whole life: chin up, thumbs
up, and a faith that God will sort it all out. Again, a
fine message. But as drama, it's as interesting as reading
Cliff's Notes.
Ultimately the best reason
to watch The Miracle Box is simply if its subject
matter speaks to you. The film delivers exactly what it
advertises that it will: an inspirational portrait of a
fine doctor, and a large commercial for hope via the Christian
faith. With that in mind, The Miracle Box is an unqualified
success, as it accomplishes both those goals handily. It
also gives us better-than-average acting, and Ada Choi shows
believable determination and sweet sincerity as Joanna Tse.
If those factors are your key to a good movie, then The
Miracle Box is for you. For those looking for an actual
film that exists on the screen beyond the stipulated goals
of its content, then you should look elsewhere. Not to lean
too heavily on the SARS aspect of the Joanna Tse story,
but if one were looking to find drama, it would seem that
her experience with and subsequent death due to SARS would
be all the drama you need. But the SARS angle is given only
cursory attention, and is ultimately just a coda to a story
of how one should find hope and faith even when things are
bad. Well, it's all well and good to find hope and faith,
and here's hoping that many people out there will do just
that regardless of whether or not they see this film. But
honestly, extolling hope and faith doesn't really make The Miracle Box
a good movie. (Kozo 2004)
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