On The Beat (Dir. Ning Ying, 1995)

(Reviewed 4.5/5 in May 2016 on letterboxd.com)

Funny, satirical, humanistic and thought provoking; this film is easily one of the greatest film's on the police force I have seen. When the common man on the street starts making more sense than the beat constable, you know there is something wrong with the system. The Beijing police force in Ning Ying's film, sing song's in praise of Chairman Mao and take pride in their procedures but they don't realize how anachronistic and foolish they are starting to appear to the public. The last resort for them to enforce their rules is to growl at people and if by chance they use force, they get suspended having violated one of their own rules. Under-equipped, under-staffed, over-worked and under-paid, you cannot help feel sympathy for these well meaning yet misunderstood police officers, even as you laugh at them.