Taiwan film screens at Berlin Film Fest

Joining the Berlin Film Festival for the third time, Taiwanese filmmaker Ho Ping (何平) has taken an easygoing attitude toward how his film might fare. "Wether or not it wins a prize is unimportant, what's more important is that more people might appreciate my story," Ho said in a Chinese restaurant near the Berlin Zoo.

The next day his hope proved easily fulfilled. The Rule of the Game (挖洞人) premiered on Friday night at the city's Delphi theater to a house packed with an international audience. Most of them were comfortably fixed on their seats until the end of the film, laughing, applauding and afterward discussing the film with Ho. It seemed for them a rather good choice to have spent their Friday evening watching an intriguing film from Taiwan.

Ho Ping's fourth feature film was the only Taiwanese film selected to participate in this year's "Berlinale." Not as famous as Taiwanese directors like Ho Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) and Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮), Ho may be unknown to international media. Yet the film-loving people of Berlin are familiar with work.

"I like this film a lot, especially the second time I saw it," said Dorothee Wenner, committee member of the International Forum of Young Directors of the Berlin Film Festival.

The Rule of the Game tells a simple story about murder, cheating and anxiety revolving around two characters. As the film's Chinese title says, the two men dig holes.

The film begins with a scene deep in the woods on a foggy night, with Turtle and Chewy -- played by Hsia Ching-ting (夏靖庭) and Chang Shih (張世) -- feverishly trying to bury a body. The two are a pair of slackers. Jobless, downbeat and foul-mouthed, they are incapable of doing anything decently. Even when digging a hole after accidentally killing a professional hitman, they constantly bump about and blame each other.

Flash back to three days earlier where the story begins with Chewy's bizarre theory of digging holes. "Killing is easier than burying, stealing is easier than laundering money. A successful murder depends on how well you dig a hole. ... Taiwan has about 3000 reported missing persons, most of them are actually in holes." Chewy shares his theory with his friend since high school, Turtle, who is bent on getting back at a businessman named Will, who cheated him out of millions of dollars.

Chewy is more excited about his plan for digging holes, than he is for helping Turtle. The two get shovels, find a good spot and prepare a big hole for their victim. Will, as it turns out, has other enemies and has been abducted by his wife and her boyfriend. Turtle then ends up killing a hitman who returns home and catches him having sex with his wife. But now, after burying the wrong guy, Turtle and Chewy have to dig another hole.

A comedy filled with irony and absurdity, The Rule of the Game is a simple story told with with witty dialogue reflecting the anxious minds of Taiwanese -- every character seems willing to die for money. It is also a film with exotic although stereotypical scenes of organized crime in Taiwan: vulgar, bright colored shirts, Mercedez Benzes and KTVs. There is even a very detailed and provocative scene about how to assassinate someone in a KTV parlor.

Ho's direction in this film is straightforward, "less technique, more drama," he said. His previous films Shiba (十八, 1994) and Wolves Cry Under the Moon (國道封閉, 1998) also have gang-related stories set in urban Taiwan.