Ordinary heroes doing extraordinary things

On April 30 last year, a race against time was taking place during a journey of more than 1,400 kilometers between Hotan prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and Urumqi, the region's capital.

A 7-year-old boy had his arm severed by a tractor while he was playing in a field in Kumairik village. The crucial time to reattach his arm was within six to eight hours.

When he arrived at Hotan airport to fly to Urumqi for urgent surgery, the last available flight — China Southern Airlines' CZ6820 — was about to take off. With the coordination of airport staffers and flight crew, the airplane was called back to the terminal to pick up the boy and even adjusted the scheduled route to save around 10 precious minutes.

With more help from escorting police officers and fully prepare orthopedists at the affiliated TCM hospital of Xinjiang Medical University in Urumqi, the child underwent a successful surgery and has recovered well.

When stumbling upon the news, Hong Kong director Tony Chan felt deeply touched, and quickly decided to travel to the region to see if this heartwarming tale could be adapted to the silver screen. His last directorial effort, the 2019 movie The Bravest, was also adapted from a real-life event about heroic firefighters.

Noticing some Western media outlets' distorted reports about Xinjiang during that time, Chan became more interested to see the region, with his previous knowledge about its picturesque scenery and juicy grapes coming mostly from several popular social media apps.

In June 2021, Chan took a flight to Xinjiang, staying there for five months and efficiently finishing his latest directorial outing Ordinary Hero, which was released across domestic cinemas on Sept 30.

As the second highest-grossing blockbuster during the National Day holiday, the movie had raked in 164 million yuan ($23 million) by Monday.

Chan recalls that he retraced the route of the injured boy, including also taking the CZ6820 flight, and interviewed most of the people who had participated in the rescue.

As the movie's ending is known, Chan reveals his top challenge revolved on re-creating the nervous, yet endearing moments, as realistically as possible.

Starring actress Li Bingbing as the flight's chief attendant, actor Huang Xiaoming as the pilot in command, and actor Feng Shaofeng as the surgeon in charge of saving the arm, all the A-list stars had studied with those in the real-life situations to obtain professional knowledge, giving them a greater understanding of their characters.

Interestingly, all the other members of Feng-starring orthopedist's surgical team in the movie are doctors and nurses at the Urumqi hospital who were involved in the surgery.

"Aside from the operating room that was built on set, all the surgical accessories and medical equipment are real. The hospital was very helpful and supportive," says the director, adding that their effort gives a "documentary-like sense of reality" to the movie.

However, a veteran who has shifted his interest in romantic movies to films adapted from real-life stories in recent years, Chan recalls that one of his top challenges was casting.

"As most of the boy's scenes feature him lying on a stretcher or a hospital bed, we need a child whose eyes are comparatively big, more easily to express emotions such as enduring the pain and missing his mother," explains the director.

Parman Parhat, a six-year-old boy from Emin county in northwestern Xinjiang, was selected to play the boy. Never having acted in a movie before, he received acting lessons for two months before shooting started in September last year.

In order to help the child quickly adapt to his "job", the director figured out a set with special guidelines: to start shooting mostly in the evenings, hence his tired state would match the role; and shoot the scenes within its natural timespan.

The hospitality of locals in Xinjiang has shaped one of the best memories of Chan during the movie's preparation and shooting.

"I had got lost when trying to return to my hotel one night. I sought help from several locals, but we couldn't quite understand each other due to different languages. When I showed them my room card, they gestured to escort me back to the hotel despite it took up more than 10 minutes of their time," he recalls.

"I also felt touched to find that some doctors in Xinjiang could earn much more if they relocated to big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, but they have stayed in local hospitals as they believe they are more needed there," adds Chan.

Noting that such small episodes in life could make him better understand why the injured boy received the help of many selfless people, the director says he hopes the movie will convey an inspirational message.

"An ordinary person with a kind heart can become a hero when lending a helping hand in a crisis," he concludes.