Operation homage

With his grandfather, father, and cousin being pilots, Hoog also reveals that he has dreamed of flying since childhood. Drawing on this fascination, he shares a poignant detail uncovered in his research: wartime pilots often kept a small bag inside their jackets containing personal items — a family photograph or a cherished gift — to ease the pain of separation.

"When you're in a cockpit for hours and hours every day, you have to make it feel like home somehow — a picture, music, or whatever it is. I think they all brought certain things with them," he adds.

"One of the most amazing things about studying this history is realizing how young the pilots were," says Hoog, adding that he once found it hard to imagine the self-sacrifice it took to bravely risk their lives at just 20 years old or younger to safeguard their country.

"As an actor, you can only hope to capture even 2 percent of that on film. This is a story about humanity, courage, and bravery, and it doesn't matter where you're from."

In the film, there is also a clever homage to the real history. In the final scene, pilot James, having escaped the Japanese, sits on a rock to light a cigarette from a guerrilla fighter. This moment mirrors a black-and-white photograph taken during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), which captured an American soldier borrowing a light from a Chinese laborer, according to director Lau.

Actress Louise Wong Tan-ni, who plays the only female soldier among the four guerrilla members, also shares her experience of visiting a local memorial hall in Guangdong that commemorates the column and reading veteran archives to learn about the female fighters in the forces, a group estimated to have hundreds of members.

Speaking of her character — a single mother who lost three daughters during the war — Wong expresses her respect and awe.

"She (the character) represents the ordinary people who stepped onto the battlefield. Their courage and willingness to sacrifice everything so the next generation could live in peace deserve to be forever remembered," Wong says.