Facing life-and-death issues is never easy, but the award-winning documentary Doctor tries to explore the meaning of life and death by telling the story of a Taiwanese doctor who loses his only son to suicide and then a Peruvian boy to cancer.
The documentary, which was directed by Chung Mong-hong (
Trying to come to terms with Felix's death, Wen, a radiologist in Iowa in the US, later spends time with Sebastian, a Peruvian boy who arrived in the US with his parents to seek cancer treatment.
During the treatment, Wen looks back at Felix's short life and tries to save the boy. However, Sebastian dies the following year.
"This documentary does not try to be a tear-jerker, as I was attempting to keep a distance in this film," said Chung, who took three years to produce the work.
"I think it's important to face life and death with more sense than sensibility. We need to face it, cope with it and not fear it," he said.
He does not expect to come up with the answer to life and death with this film, because these are unpredictable events, Chung said.
"The story of Felix Wen tells us that not every case of teen suicide occurs because of a lack of attention and care from one's parents. Every teenager has his own character and different way of thinking," a psychiatrist at Municipal Wang Fang Hospital said.
Just as Chung demonstrated in the film, sometimes life and death are very complicated and hard to explain, she said.
Chung said that Wen Pi-chian and his wife were model parents and that Felix Wen had been a bright student with a maturity beyond his age.
The only unusual thing was that he talked about death a lot, Chung said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it