Fri, May 20, 2022 page14

• Movie review: Letter to A’ma

  This layered montage featuring young people interviewing their grandparents is a beautiful and poignant exploration of Taiwan’s collective past and lost memories

  • By Han Cheung / Staff reporter
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  I usually get lost in long documentaries that stitch together numerous storylines, characters and artistic elements without much of a direct plot, but Chen Hui-ling (陳慧齡) does it just right in Letter to A’ma (給阿媽的一封信), which took her 10 years to make.

  The editing is superb, melding everything into a poignant and layered composition that’s enjoyable and illuminating to watch without having to fully follow every subject and catch every bit of information. In place of a gripping narrative is a powerful emotional buildup that slowly draws the viewer in and hits hard later. It’s not difficult to see why it was nominated for Best Documentary in last year’s Golden Horse Film Festival.

  Featuring young people trying to understand the experiences of their grandparents through interviews, writing, art and music, Letter to A’ma is a beautiful and compelling ode to those who went through Taiwan’s turbulent past and lived on to share their memories, no matter how painful.

  

  Director Chen Hui-ling reads a poem to her deceased grandmother in Letter to A’ma.

  Photo courtesy of sky digi entertainment

  Due to the political climate, the grimier parts of Taiwanese history were rarely discussed at the dinner table or taught in schools. Chen is seen in the film leading her “The Island’s Collective Memories Project” (島嶼的集體記憶計畫) classes in various schools, where students ask their grandparents questions, present their findings and create drawings based on their impressions.

  Chen never got to do this herself, and the stories are interspersed with images of her reading a poem to her deceased grandmother: I can’t seem to be able to see you, so I can only try to view you through other people’s eyes, she says in one line.

  But as the film goes on, it’s evident that the purpose of this exercise goes beyond just getting to know one’s grandparents. It’s about trying to patch together these buried memories from different groups in Taiwan — Hoklo, Hakka, indigenous or mainlander — and creating a deeper understanding of the nation as a collective whole.

  

  A woman interviews her Hakka grandfather who spent time in Japanese-occupied Manchuria in Letter to A’ma.

  Photo courtesy of sky digi entertainment

  We Taiwanese are like bats, one indigenous grandpa says, referring to Aesop’s The Bats, Birds and Beasts. But unlike the opportunistic bat in the fable, they never really had a choice of who to side with as the nation passed through the often-brutal hands of various rulers.

  In addition to the numerous student presentations, Chen also does a deep dive on six adult subjects. Their unique tales are also chopped up and dispersed throughout the film, with some more memorable than others, but collectively they provide a strong backbone that binds together the other bits and pieces.

  Chen employs an extremely layered and complex approach, adding long shots, color shifts and seamlessly overlapping images and voices to her cinematic collage. The scenes start from basic interviews but build up into performances within performances as the subjects recreate their grandparents’ experiences: one man rebuilds a cramped brick chamber where his elderly interviewee hid his Communist brother from the authorities for 12 years, while another woman visits Shenyang, China where her grandfather worked when it was under Japanese occupation.

  

  Descendants of White Terror victim Uyongu Yata’uyungana perform an orchestral piece that he wrote in Letter to A’ma.

  Photo courtesy of sky digi entertainment

  In one sequence, it’s the grandmother — whose husband, brother-in-law and father-in-law were executed in the aftermath of the 228 Incident — who is painting a picture with the words “freedom” in the center.

  A more elaborate scene features the descendants of indigenous Tsou White Terror victim Uyongu Yata’uyungana getting together to play an orchestral piece that he wrote. While they set up their instruments, Uyongu’s son, the grandfather who is interviewed in the film, copies Uyongu’s final letter to his wife before he was put to death in 1954. Finally, the scene of him reading it aloud is juxtaposed with him singing the song with his family.

  It’s hard to sum up all the intricacies of this film as different components keep coming to mind. Just go watch it when it comes out.

  

  A grandmother opens up about how she lost her husband and two other relatives in the aftermath of the 228 Incident in Letter to A’ma.

  Photo courtesy of sky digi entertainment

  For your information

  Film Notes

  Letter to A’ma 給阿媽的一封信 Directed By:Chen Hui-ling (陳慧齡) Languages:Mandarin, Taiwanese and Hakka with English and Chinese subtitles Running Time:98 Minutes Taiwan Release:Today
• Most Popular

  • 1

    First person arrested as Danjiang Bridge opens

  • 2

    TSMC shares stumble on report, but losses minor

  • 3

    Navy needs 12 subs for modern fleet: CSBC head

  • 4

    Police identify man who engaged in indecency at park

  • 5

    HIMARS to be deployed to islands