Bad Education is a 2022 Chinese movie built under the direction of Kai Ko, featuring the likes of Kent Tsai, Berant Zhu, Edison Song, Ning Chang, Leon Dai, and Hsin-yao Huang. The film follows the story of three high-school teenagers who are gathered on the rooftop to celebrate their graduation day. In the midst of all the conversation, they decide to share their darkest secret. Little did they know that this was going to set up a chain of events that would end up changing their lives and the perspective of one another.
Bad Education (2022) Movie Summary & Plot Synopsis
Wang (Kent Tsai), Chang (Berant Zhu), and Han (Edison Song) have gathered on a building’s rooftop on the day of their high school graduation for drinks and smokes and to share heartfelt conversations before they each head out their separate ways. Unlike Chang and Han, Wang is a scholar who aces every test, while the other two have to rely on Wang to pass their exams. Wang is the son of a rich businessman who owns multiple factories around the city.
The other two, however, hail from humble backgrounds. Chang and Han believe that Wang’s future is sorted out, and there’s no point in him going to college, as he’s eventually going to inherit his father’s business one day while they’ll be doing odd jobs to make ends meets. Both Chang and Han even playfully offer to be Wang’s driver when he returns from college and joins his father’s company. As the night progresses, they each get drunk and decide to share their darkest secret, one they’ve never shared with a single soul.
What Is Chang and Han’s Secret?
Chang begins sharing his secret, something he has never shared with anyone. In the school, he hated one of his teachers, who was overly strict when it came to cleanliness. The teacher had a mentally disabled daughter, whom the students in the school claimed was born from the teacher’s relationship with his cousin’s sister. One day, Chang led the girl to the school’s storeroom by promising her 100 cups of chocolate milk. The girl didn’t know any better and followed Chang. Chang exploited her innocence and raped her. The poor girl didn’t even realize that she was being sexually assaulted. Chang never told this to anyone, probably because he never held himself responsible for what he did to her.
Han is no better than Chang, who likes paying attention to useless things and flaunting his personality on girls rather than studying. Han shares his secret, which demonstrates what kind of person he is. He picks up a brick and remembers the time when he used to walk to his home. On the way, he often noticed a homeless man living under the bridge, surrounded by loads of trash. The homeless man only had a dog to keep him company. Chang often wondered what would be the old man’s reaction if he stole the most precious thing in the world, his pet dog. With that thought in mind, Han one night slipped out of his house and went to the bridge.
He watched the old man sleep for a while and pounded his dog with a brick until he died. Han was still not satisfied and went on to kill the old man as well. The following morning, he watched the news, but there was no information about a man being killed under a bridge. He went to the bridge again but found no one investigating the murder, which made him realize that the world doesn’t care about the vagrant and poor, even if they’re killed in cold blood. After Chang and Han have shared their secret, Wang has no choice but to share his.
What Is Wang’s Secret?
Chang tells Han and Chang about the day he got home from school, peeked over his father’s phone, and found out that he was talking to other girls and was regular at the brothel. However, his friends tell him to share another secret. Wang complies and confesses to cheating on a test. However, the game now turns dark, as the other two have shared their biggest secret with Wang. They fear that Wang can blackmail them for money and who knows what else.
They force Wang to reveal another secret, or they’ll push him off the building. Wang recalls the time when he broke into his school to steal the answer sheets because he got lower marks on a few subjects. He stole those papers and burnt them, but the fire grew and consumed two floors. The fire was so severe that it took firefighters almost a day to extinguish it.
Unfortunately, Chang and Han don’t believe him and call him a liar because the real students who burned down the exam papers were them. They call Wang skittish and ask him to do one daring thing in his life. They tell him to throw paint on a criminal and smack him with a bottle. They’re convinced that Wang would chicken out, but he does the latter and hits the man. The man releases his goons after them, prompting the trio to run. Wang and Chang manage to escape the street by stealing a taxi, while Han is caught and badly beaten.
The duo finds a drunk girl in the car, who blames them for taking advantage of her. However, the police start chasing after them when the girl starts screaming that she’s been abducted and raped. Soon, they’re arrested, and while on their way to the police station, Chang reveals that whatever he said on the roof was a plain lie. He never raped anyone. Things become interesting when the cop, rather than taking them to the police station, takes them to the criminal’s hideout. The cop then offers Wang and Chang’s keys to handcuffs to the criminal and leaves.
Bad Education (2022) Movie Ending Explained
How Did Han, Chang, and Wang Barter Their Freedom?
Towards the end of “Bad Education,” the criminals bring the trio to their boss, Mr. Hsing (Leon Dai), who, for some reason, is an expert fish filleter. He assures the teenagers that he’ll let them go in exchange for money or have some gangsters negotiate their freedom. Mr Hsing sets their price at $200K. Chang and Hang beg Wang to call his father and borrow some money, but he denies it, claiming it’s too much. Mr. Hsing then places a sharp knife on the table, asking them to give him one of his fingers. Chang and Wang beg Han to give one of his fingers, stating it’s the least he can do after they have come back to save him.
With no choice left, Han agrees, and Wang cuts one of his fingers. Unfortunately, Han has cut the wrong finger and is stopped at the door. Next, Chang cuts one of the fingers of Wang’s dominant hand and puts it on the table. Unfortunately, Mr. Hsing realizes that Wang has lied and has not given him the finger of his dominant hand. Mr. Hsing then pulls out a jar that’s topped off with nothing but severed fingers.
Chang tries to talk himself out of the situation by claiming how unfortunate his life is to make others feel bad about him. But Han finally has enough of his charade and pins him on the ground, while Wang brutally cuts one of his fingers. The movie ends with the trio walking outside. Wang’s smile suggests that he has gained confidence despite losing a finger, whereas Han and Chang are overwhelmed with grief over their amputations.
Were Han and Chang Lying to Wang?
Yes, Han and Chang were indeed lying and never did the things they talked about on the rooftop. Han mentioned killing a homeless man and his dog by repeatedly beating them with a brick in the middle of the night, while Chang confessed to having sex with an autistic girl in the school’s storeroom. This was their way of exerting authority over Wang, who was always a step ahead of them in studies and other school activities.
After they shared their story, Wang told them that he, too, had done something terrible. He claimed that he had set the school on fire while he was burning the exam papers just because he failed in a few subjects. The school had to retake all the exams, in which Wang managed to secure good marks. However, Wang lied, as the ones who burnt the school papers were Han and Chang.
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Bad Education (2022) Information
Bad Education External Link: Rotten Tomatoes
Genre: Crime, Drama, Action, Mystery & thriller
Original Language: Chinese
Director: Chen-Tung Ko
Producer: Molly Fang
Writer: Giddens Ko
Runtime: 1h 17m
