Reviewed by: Chungking_Cash Date: 01/16/2009 Whoa there, Ringo! A little nihilism can go a long way. Where its unrelated predecessor ("Prison on Fire," one of 1987's top grossing pictures) scrutinized the sociology of a Hong Kong correctional facility "School on Fire" dissects the microcosm of a secondary school where filial piety has eroded into a Darwinian survival of the fittest. While hardly irrelevant "School on Fire" is so overwrought with morose brutality it leaves the viewer feeling sullen and exhausted. The only thing more shocking than filmmaker Ringo Lam's breathlessly violent depiction of the education system is that the film was heavily edited by censors. Roy Cheung co-stars as Big Brother Smart in what might be the most accurate portrayal of a triad in contemporary Hong Kong cinema. Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: JohnR Date: 04/22/2007 Summary: Gritty Drama - Recommended As others have pointed out, this is the story of an innocent girl who gets caught up with the triads, partially because she witnesses a crime, but even before that because a triad classmate has staked his claim to her even though she wants nothing to do with him. It's a story about power. Those who want to do good (the girl, her teacher, the police, and even some triad members) lack power, and those who want to do bad (the triad classmate and his big brother) have all the power. Can these light-side individuals summon the strength to resist the dark side, represented by a Roy Cheung performance that makes Darth Vadar look like a minister? The movie is pretty grim, there are very few light-hearted scenes. But I believe that was intentional, because you identify with the school girl, her friend, her teacher, her triad boyfriend, the police inspector, as each one gets put into increasingly difficult positions. You ask yourself, "would I keep resisting at this point, or just give in to the inevitable?" It's not about school or triads. It's about finding the strength to do what's right in the face of seemingly unsurmontable opposition. And contrary to some of the reviewers here, I did see hope and optimism. It's a little dated, but it holds up well and is worth a watch. Good performances all around. Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 09/17/2005 The story of a girl named Yuen Fong (Lee), who gets mixed up in the world of the Triad after she rats out one of their own. A gritty, unrelenting drama from noted director Lam. Unlike many Triad movies (especially recent "Triad youth" movies like the Young and Dangerous series), the gangsters here are not glamorized in any way. There's nothing heroic or honorable about them -- it's a total 180 from the slick characters portrayed in most movies like A Better Tomorrow. The acting for the most part comes off as fairly amateurish, but that actually adds something to the film. At times, it gets almost uncomfortably close to a documentary as we get sucked deeper into the characters' lives. Though there is little in the way of "conventional" action (such as gunfights), the movie is unrelenting in its portrayal of violence, especially during the gut-wrenching finale. Though not as polished as Lam's later work, School on Fire is still a great film that offers a different glimpse into Hong Kong's underworld. [review from www.hkfilm.net]

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 11/09/2003 Summary: I agree with all!! It is a grim and gritty movie with life in a hong kong school equalivent to some of the the worst schools in AMerica. You do feel sorry for the characters, stuck in such a bad situation and probably all of them would need some long term counselling. I have not much to say as others have said enough, worth watching but expect no happiness from this movie. 7.5/10

Reviewed by: danton Date: 12/26/2002 Even by Ringo Lam's standards, this film is relentlessly grim and absolutely devoid of even the slightest glimmer of hope or happiness. In one way or another, all the characters shown here are deeply dysfunctional, their lives are marked by failure, despair and broken dreams, and they all come to a bad end. Set in a triad-influenced high school somewhere near the old airport, the story is centered around two young girls played by Sarah Lee and Fennie Yuen, who get pulled into a world of drugs, crime and prostitution. Damian Lau plays their teacher who is unable to help them, and Roy Cheung is the menacing dailo who makes Fennie's life less than pleasant after she testifies against one of his gang members. The girls encounter increasingly horrible things, and in their own way they both drift further and further into a vicious cycle of inhumanity and crime. Ringo Lam could have depicted this as tragic or melodramatic, but he opts for a far more realistic tone instead, giving each character flaws that prevent the audience from identifying too readily with any of them. Nevertheless, Fennie Yuen's performance in particular is quite harrowing and very effective in portraying the girl's helplessness in a painful way. It is almost a relief when her character finally lashes out in violent rage towards the end of the film (with deadly consequences). More recent cinematic deconstructions of the triad mythology popularized first by the Heroic Bloodshed films of John Woo and then later by the Goo Wat Jai films, such as Jiang Hu:The Triad Zone, Beast Cops or Once upon a time in triad society 1/2 have generally opted for an ironic approach. This earlier Ringo Lam work, on the other hand, eschews irony and focuses an unblinking eye on the abject misery caused by triad violence and how this violence is tied directly to poverty and an economic model that marginalizes and disenfranchizes large segments of the population. Adding this level of social criticism comes at the price of comforting the audience through a happy end, but the end result is well worth watching - the movie, for all its bleakness, is quite gripping and engages the audience on several levels. Recommended.

Reviewed by: s**** Date: 05/09/2001 Summary: blah An admirable effort, I guess. Definitely not one of Ringo Lam's better films, but he's never been the most consistent director, and you gotta love him for it. The storyline here involves a likable-enough schoolgirl who, due to various circumstances beyond her control, ends up having her life ruined by a local gang of triads. The other reviewers definitely hit on a point I therefore don't need to belabor: This film is depressing. Of course, that's only if you let yourself get involved in it, which you probably won't; the film is way too manipulative and predictable and the character's actions are way too stupid and inexplicable to suspend disbelief for the film's entire running time. Also, I can't help but note that this film seems especially grim because it is so slow-paced and redundant, so that the experience of watching it is grim on several levels. That is to say, you will also be bored. To give Ringo Lam some credit here, I recall reading in an interview with him that the studio cut over a half hour out of his original edit before releasing this film, and subsequent video releases have been in various edited stages, a situation which any HK video fan is surely familiar with. In the interview, Ringo Lam expressed frustration and disappointment that no one has ever seen the SCHOOL ON FIRE he intended. Something to keep in mind, I guess. Maybe someone will put together a director's cut release someday. I'd wait until then.

Reviewed by: MilesC Date: 12/09/1999 Definitely one of the grimmer movies I've seen in a while... is anyone ever happy throughout the entire film? Although this and other earlier Ringo Lam films attempt to portray the events realistically, I kept thinking to myself that the school life in Hong Kong couldn't possibly be this bad... Although this isn't really the kind of movie I'd want to watch again, I found it pretty interesting and worth a watch, though it's not on par with the other entries in the "On Fire" series.

Reviewed by: pablo Date: 12/09/1999 A schoolgirl witnesses a triad crime, reports it to the police, andpays the price. Not a very happy story.

Reviewed by: hkcinema Date: 12/08/1999 A quite satisfying shocker about a young teenager who will go through hell after she has witnessed a brutal crime. "SCHOOL ON FIRE" is not the best Ringo Lam's film but it's definitely rank among the good ones that he did. (ref: "FULL CONTACT", "PRISON ON FIRE", "BURNING PARADISE"). Worth to be seeing. [Reviewed by Martin Sauvageau]