BWhouse

The Song of Chatian Mountain

This film is adapted from Chung Chao-Cheng's novel of the same title, Song of Chatian Mountain. It depicts the intellectual tyranny of the occupiers at the end of the Second World War and the way that educated persons resisted it. The story begins with a Taiwanese man, Lu Zhixiang, well educated in Japan and a judo master, who returns to Taiwan to live up to his high ideals. He plans to join an anti-Japanese organization on his return, but his ship is sunk on the voyage back and he must struggle with the ocean for his life. He survives, barely, but the Japanese police are after him, and he flees to the mountains. There he lives for a long time, leading a lonely life, wood-cutting, catching eels, and fishing to support himself. He wins the admiration of the local peasants and aboriginal people, and also the love of Benmei, a strongly maternal figure, who decides she wishes to become his wife. The entire film is shot in high-definition video, and it shows the more intimate side of human nature with great subtlety, emotionally understated but full of a humanistic spirit.