Over the television and the newspaper, there were a lot of discussions about the most popular movie of the time in Taiwan, a Taiwanese made 'Cap #7' or 诲角七号. Out of curiosity, I went to see 'Cap #7' on October 10, a holiday in Taiwan. I was very moved.
Although the story is similar to 'Madam Butterfly', or 'Miss Saigon', there are twists. The first twist was the introduction of a modern romance between an arrogant Japanese woman (a stage producer), and a distressed Taiwanese artist. This new romance co-mingles with an old romance between a Japanese teacher and a Taiwanese girl introduced to the audience only through the narration of the love letters written by the teacher who left Taiwan after Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945. The second twist is that a 'dying' southern Taiwanese village finally assembled a group of local musicians against all odds to produce a successful music show in the end. This 'can-do' spirit really says a lot about Taiwanese self-confidence, a character much needed by Taiwanese these days. This group of local musicians, interestingly, consists of a distressed Taiwanese musician, a 福佬人 (the largest Taiwanese ethnic group), a Hakka salesperson, an aboriginal policemen, a Presbyterian church musician (a young girl), and an old men with traditional Buddhist faith. Isn't this group of musicians represent all ethnic groups, faiths, gender, and generation of the modern Taiwanese society? But, wait. Where is the Chinese which represent the 15% most elite group in Taiwan? I believe that this elite group was represented by the very arrogant Japanese stage producer (a bossy woman) in the movie. Is that a coincidence?
There were also many humors along the story of the movie. Well, I think the movie, 'Cap #7' is a well-done, successful Taiwanese movie.
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