Films about land have always had a unique temperament, whether it is the Oscars' "Belfast", "Inuyama", or Taiwan's "Wandering Age" and "Tea Gold", although these film and television works are located in different backgrounds and stages, they can immerse the audience with the deep relationship between people and land.
And this time "Hot Air Balloon on the Mountain" is no exception, taking us back to The 1990s Lishan and feeling the irreplaceable temperature and charm.
Background stage of the movie "Irisan"
Located in the Central Mountains area of central Taiwan at an altitude of about 2,000 meters, "Lishan" has a pleasant climate and beautiful scenery, is famous for its abundant production of pears, peaches, apples and other fruits, and there are many forest recreation areas and hot springs nearby, which have been a good choice for people to travel during the holidays since the opening of Zhongheng.
However, in our eyes, what kind of life do the local residents of Lishan live? What problems has this place faced in recent years?
Adapted from the 1990 work that won the Excellent Screenplay Award with Ang Lee's "Push hand" and "Feast", "Hot Air Balloon on the Mountain" pulls the story back to Lishan in the 90s, through Lu Xia's role of Ah Ying, the city-grown NTU girl who took advantage of the summer vacation to return to her hometown after a long absence, shuttled through the fertilizer shop opened by her father and the orchard in the mountain neighborhood, learning the process of interpersonal communication and close to the land, showing the customs and customs of Lishan, the industry and life style of the residents, and bringing different understandings and inspirations to the audience.
The development of the plot of a hot air balloon on a mountain
At that time, Pear Hill fruit farmers were plagued by nematodes, and the heroine of "Hot Air Balloon on the Mountain", Ah Ying's father Tianyao, through diagnosis, found that the problem was in the root of the peach tree, and suggested that the fruit farmers switch to his fertilizer, rather than chemicals, by improving the health of the roots of the fruit tree to resist the invasion of diseases and insect pests. However, Tianyao's intention to think about the local fruit farmers and Pear Mountain fruits also triggered a conflict of interest between him and another fertilizer merchant, Wang Qingshan.
Wang Qingshan, who occupies the Lishan fertilizer market, has long sold water-mixed fertilizer at a low price to drive a Mercedes-Benz, which makes Tianyao, who is doing honest business with heart, feel very dissatisfied, and hopes to cooperate with the German fertilizer company to try to replace his market with "foreign goods" that flaunt better quality, but this decision not only provokes confrontation between the two sides.
Even if the farmers in Lishan want to change fertilizer, they are caught in the middle and are caught in a dilemma because of the pressure of human feelings.
Lu Xia Aying in a hot air balloon on a high mountain
After ah ying, the heroine of "Hot Air Balloon on the Mountain", played by Lu Xia, came to Lishan, she did not stay in her father's fertilizer shop to work, but decided to go to a nearby orchard to apply.
The owner, Ah Wen, is a young rookie fruit farmer, and with the help of Ah Ying's father's introduction, he spent all his savings to take over the orchard of a retired old fruit farmer, and began to plant peaches with full of enthusiasm. And when Ah Ying, an urban girl, came to Lishan, located in a remote mountainous area, her psychology was also changed because of what she saw and heard here.
Ah Ying followed Ah Wen, who was about the same age as her, working and chatting in the orchard, checking the health of the fruit trees, and harvesting the ripe peaches on the trees and packaging them, Ah Ying not only saw Ah Wen's passion for growing fruits and the efforts made to stabilize the operation of the orchard, but also through the closeness to nature and the land of Pear Hill, he found a way to see his life and face many confusions.
Is the hot air balloon on the mountain good?
Personally, I really like works like "Hot Air Balloons on the Mountain" that are close to the land.
From walking in the orchard, removing pests and diseases, fending off the ravages of typhoons, to finding ways to sell the fruits they grow, "Hot Air Balloons on the Mountain" in addition to showing the daily life of the farmers in Lishan in the film, Ah Ying returns home to see the competition between her father and her peers, and the stepmother must take care of the young children and try to maintain the family's behavior, but also let the audience clearly see their tenacious vitality.
His father sold fertilizer not only for the sake of farmers, but also had to support his family and maintain his male dignity; the old Rongmin who had been growing fruits in Lishan for 30 years had been cultivating from that time to the present, and he did not want young people to leave when he was lonely; and Ah Wen listened to Ah Ying's wonderful life at National Taiwan University, and also showed his courage to stay in the mountains and work hard and the things he had to bear.
The way each of these people strives to survive in this part of Lishan allows Ah Ying, who returns from out of town in "Hot Air Balloon on the Mountain", to face her true voice inside.
Small drawbacks of hot air balloons in the mountains
However, it is a pity that Ah Ying, as the heroine who leads the audience into Lishan in "Hot Air Balloon on the Mountain", does not make too much description of her state of mind in the film. Although we can see her return to this familiar and unfamiliar place during the summer vacation and try to fit into it, it is not until the end that the problems she faces in life are revealed, and it is more difficult for the audience to understand her inner confusion and the impact of the whole process on her.
It's just that I still like the final ending of "Hot Air Balloon on the Mountain", in the face of the pregnancy and childbirth, which will affect the future of life, maybe we are like the farmers in Lishan who are worried about the future, we want to continue to grow high-quality but low-profit fruits? Or simply cut down all the betel nut trees? For a moment there was no definitive answer.
The theme of the hot air balloon movie on the mountain
Ke Shuqing dusted the script for 30 years, but instead created a richer and mellow flavor of the movie "Hot Air Balloon on the Mountain".
The 1999 921 earthquake caused the Zhongheng fault, and although the damaged forests of Lishan were restored at that time, the old days of "Little Paris" gradually faded. However, even so, now that 20 years have passed, have the people of Lishan been knocked down by the damage caused by natural disasters after a period of hardship?
Just like the hot air balloon in "Hot Air Balloon on the Mountain", which cannot rise from the mountain, residents can find another way to find another use for it. Despite their hard work and many competitions and obstacles, they still enjoy the fruits they have gained, looking for those joys and happiness in their lives that are worth celebrating.
I think this is the theme that director Ke Shuqing hopes to tell through the movie "Hot Air Balloon on the Mountain".
The meaning of the end of a hot air balloon on a high mountain
Perhaps the current situation of the ending of "Hot Air Balloon on the Mountain" in 1990 has become a glorious historical memory of the prosperity of Theosan in the previous generation, which not only gives hope, but also brings many sentimental regrets to the film.
But it is undeniable that after the tempering of time, just like the film "Hot Air Balloon on the Mountain", which waited for 30 years to come out, under the collocation of the original story, the calm narrative method of the whole film makes the whole film full of humanistic taste and land atmosphere that make the audience yearn for, and it is certainly not without reason that it can be shortlisted for the best original screenplay of the 2021 Golden Horse Award.