While clutching at one single genre obviously isn't a realistic solution to the movie industry's woes, both films successfully have won over the hearts of audiences through their different filming styles and the caring approach to the documentaries' subjects.
Let It Be's simple and empathetic approach to the plight of elderly rice farmers in Houbi Township, Tainan County (
Though not taking social and political agenda as its main interest, the film offers reflections from ordinary folk in the wake of Taiwan's accession to the WTO and is a valuable document depicting a way of life that may soon disappear in the face of fierce competition from foreign agricultural imports. Amid the beauty of southern Taiwan's farming landscapes, the honest, hard-working farmers epitomize the triumph of their will to survive the daily grind of life while content with what life has forced upon them. Directors Yen Lan-chuan (顏蘭權) and Cres Juang (莊益增) and the local farmers have together raised their voices about the loss of cultural practices in the face of global free trade propagated by the WTO.
Veering away from the social commentary-heavy genre of non-fiction cinema, Jump! Boys can be seen as a feature film rather than a documentary with its lively combination of animation, special effects and humor. Taking the director's older brother, a gymnastics coach and a gymnastics team of seven boys as its main characters, the film seems less significant in terms of its subject matter at first but ends up weaving together a charming story about the group of boys, each of whom has a unique personality and lots of fun things to say. The film reaped NT$4 million at the box office and stayed in theaters for three months -- an exceptional achievement for a local film, fiction or non-fiction.
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