etude..

Among the Taiwanese movies I have seen, the most impressive, in addition to the "36th Story" that I have talked about before, is the "Etude" that I want to talk about today.

If you haven't seen the movie and seen the name "Etude", what type of movie do you think it is? Maybe you'll think, like most people, it's a musical.

Many years ago, there was a time when cycling was a cool thing to do. You can often see all kinds of cycling travel on the Internet, of which Taiwan is a very popular destination, and in those travelogues, almost all people will mention the movie "Etude". I watched this movie in that context, and that was more than a decade ago.

"Etude" is the story of a young man riding around the island, it looks less like a movie, but more like an everyday record (not like a documentary), but it is not ordinary everywhere.

The male protagonist is a college student with hearing impairment (people with hearing impairments also have difficulties in expression), and when he is about to graduate from college, he takes a leave of absence to take a bicycle trip around the island. The car he uses is a road bike that he usually uses, with no rear and rear seat, so there is no pack, and he rides with a large backpack and a guitar on his back the whole time (if you've tried a long ride, you must know how tired it is to carry those things).

He can't play the guitar because of hearing problems, and he says he plays guitar by watching, not listening. Every time he camped out outdoors, he would pull out his guitar and play it for a while, because it would give him some security.

Along the way, in addition to seeing many beautiful landscapes, he also met many different people. Every time he encountered a different person, it was a small exercise in life for each other.

Maybe the name "Etude" hides this meaning...

Every inch of land in this world is unique, and so is everyone in this world. It is not inevitable that he will come and meet you, because even if it is not you, there will be another person.

The most beautiful thing on the island of Taiwan is not the variety of scenery, but the unchanging human touch. All the people the male protagonist meets exude a natural and unique human touch. That kind of humanity can be seen in my grandparents and even my fathers, but it is difficult to find it in today's cities.

He spent seven days circling the island of Taiwan, but he had a feeling that he had experienced all kinds of life.

The retired teacher asked him why he took a leave of absence to ride a bicycle, and he replied, "There are some things that I don't do now, and I won't do it for the rest of my life." This line was later abused everywhere, losing its original power. When I see this sentence coming out of the male protagonist's mouth again today, it is not a little self-conscious, because I seem to have said something similar.

I also had the idea of going to the taiwan roundabout (and I still have it), but not because of this movie, but out of a yearning for the distant and the unknown. After watching this movie again today, my thinking may have changed a little bit, at least this movie now makes me want to go to Taiwan a little more.

I didn't feel much when I first saw this movie, but this time it was completely different, and while watching my brain was racing, it prompted me to think a lot and have a great improvement in my understanding of this movie. I don't want to describe it as an old bottle of wine, but it's really pure and thick, and yes, innocent and thick.

The most important thing about travel is never that you see a beautiful landscape, but that you meet a variety of different people and things. The greatest meaning of life is never what you have gained, but what you have experienced.

Each of us has only one life, so it is destined to be just an etude.