Island Etude was one of the many foreign films I have
watched. It is about a hearing-impaired college student, Ming-hsiang, who takes a break from his
semester and travels on his bicycle around the island of Taiwan. There are many key elements in this film,
such as the winds of the Pacific and religion.
On his travels, Ming-hsiang runs into
a film crew that is producing a movie centered around the wind on the east
coast of Taiwan and freedom; how people and animals use the wind to be
free. The wind is a recurrent point in
the movie, continuing to when Ming-hsiang stays the night at a school, and the
teacher, Miss Liu, is out listening to the wind and the waves, saying it is a
magical experience.
The movie crew shows Ming-hsiang
much kindness, such as inviting him to lunch and saving him from a
rainstorm. In the end when Ming-hsiang
makes it back home, the film director sends Ming-hsiang an email and tells him
that he wants to hear his story of his travels and will make a movie about
it. Ming-hsiang begins writing down his
story after he returns home.
Religion was also a
key point in this story. There are
scenes that show the coastline when Ming-hsiang is riding along and passes
people performing prayer rituals, most likely Buddhist. Religion is also present when Ming-hsiang and
his bike friend, Tsun, stop at an abandoned shelter to get out of a
rainstorm. There, Tsun finds the reading
of Buddha “Don’t get Angry” poem. Also,
when Ming-hsiang visits with his grandfather towards the end of the movie, the
words “all rights and wrongs end here, take Buddha’s kind heart with you”
are found on his wall in the kitchen. Ming-hsiang
and his grandfather participate in a ritual of the Baishatun’s Matsu
goddess visit. It is a whole-town prayer ritual blessing the village for the upcoming year.
Island Etude was an inspiring story that expresses the lesson of something
that you don’t take advantage of and do now you will never do. It shows that someone can really persevere and
achieve their goals, no matter what the obstacles.
Molly. I like this film,too. In this film, you can see the beautiful scenery of the eastern coastline of Taiwan. The beauty of the eastern coast has always been a great scenic spot for the foreign backpackers. If you enjoy the natural scenery, the eastern Taiwan will be the priority. In summer vacation, many passionate Taiwanese teenagers or students will travel around the island by riding on the bicycle. However, there is another film that is about a group of people travel around the island by riding the motorcycle. However, this time the people travel around the island are consist of a group of elders who are over 80 years old. It is quite an amazing film. These old men chase their dreams no matter how old they are. This film is called " the Grandriders". Here is the link of the preview of this film.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjmjz9Vh08E
Hi Eva! I thought that Island Etude was a unique movie, and I liked getting to see some of Taiwan and it's natural beauty before actually going there. Thanks for sharing the link for "The Grand Riders," It also seems like an inspiring movie, and I will try to watch it sometime!
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