CHILDREN OF THE GREEN DRAGON - SYNOPSIS

János Máté is a 45 year old real-estate agent. He doesn’t really like his job, but for want of better opportunity he carries on doing it, which is quite hard for him to do as he has a panic disorder. János divorced six month ago and he has lived on his own ever since. It’s been really hard for him recently because he doesn’t have any friends and doesn’t exactly know how to get off the hook.   One day he’s given a new assignment: selling a warehouse. The client is a Swedish entrepreneur who wishes to get rid of the property quickly, so Máté has to sell it in only a few weeks. The warehouse is not empty though.

It's rented to Chinese who use the building for storing their market goods. The “goods” – at least a thousand boxes – are guarded by Wu who is just as much a loner as János. Wu’s job is a 24-hour duty, so he practically lives in the warehouse for months where he sleeps in his tiny room in a corner of the building. Apart from guarding them,  it’s Wu’s job to fix the broken goods. This is what he does all day and in his free time he plays sports. He particularly likes to play ball games and he even plans set up a football team when he returns to China.

As Máté shows the property to – the constantly arriving – customers they’re practically together all day.  At first they don’t communicate a lot, but as days pass they get closer to each other.  It’s not easy for them to talk since Wu speaks little Hungarian, and apart from the language barrier there are other cross-cultural problems which they have to resolve. Wu notices that Máté has panic disorder and offers him a cure. Máté is reluctant at first but then he starts to respect Wu’s knowledge. As they get closer to each other Máté starts to feel better. And as he has no one to hurry home to, he spends more and more time in the warehouse with Wu. After the long months of loneliness Wu is also very happy to have someone with whom he can talk to who listens. Thus the warehouse cluttered with boxes becomes their own world.

However the harmony between Máté and Wu gets broken by a pizza girl whom the Chinaman gets a crush on. Wu starts courting her and asks Máté for advice on how to get closer to her. The newly divorced Máté is a bit cynical at first but he tries to help. The Pizza Girl also gets interested in the odd couple and visits them more and more often. After a while Máté falls for the girl too so tension rises between the friends. In addition Wu is ordered by his boss to obstruct the selling of the warehouse as they need the use of it for longer. As Wu can only return to China when his boss allows him to – having been left with no option – he obeys. At the same time Máté gets threatened with the sack if he fails to sell the warehouse. After a short while they start to sabotage each others' work.

As Máté and Wu become opponents in both love and work their friendship falls apart. Soon Máté succeeds in selling the warehouse and by failing to stop it Wu doesn’t get permission from his boss to return to China. The Pizza Girl not knowing exactly who’s side to take in the conflict chooses to exit their lives and to disappear forever. Despite his success in selling the warehouse Máté is not happy as he has a guilty conscience because he knows that Wu’s dreams to return to his homeland have been shattered. Máté also feels like he owes something back to his friend who helped him recover from panic disorder and loneliness. He realizes that what he was unable to cope with on his own, with the help of his friend he succeeded in doing so quickly. So Máté decides to go and find Wu to help him. On his way to finding Wu Máté gets to the Chinese market and meets with his friend’s boss, Zhou. He tells Máté that Wu owed him a large amount of money and thus he wouldn’t return him his passport until he redeems his debt. To Zhou’s great surprise Máté volunteers to pay his friend’s debt to buy back his freedom.

Thus by the end of the movie harmony is restored and with Máté’s help Wu can finally return to his homeland. When they say goodbye they know that this has been the most important encounter of their life. A friendship which helped them break their personal isolation and feeling of loneliness in the world. In the last scene Máté, regains his pep, and returns to the Pizza Girl giving the hope of a new romance.

The film relies on both humor and emotions in telling the story of a friendship between two different-minded people who come from very different cultures. In every real, deep human encounter world is rewritten – this is the message of Children of the Green Dragon. The film attempts to introduce how a deep friendship can develop between a couple of ordinary people who have their own individual problems but can help each other to resolve them through a shared hope in the future.

Bence Miklausic

18th of September 2009