The fate of ordinary people is always small enough to be negligible in the face of the vigorous times, but the tragedy of ordinary people can often illuminate the absurdity and cruelty of the moment.
At the end of the 1980s, director Hou Xiaoxian focused the lens on ordinary people in Taiwan and made a Chinese peak work that traced the torrent of the times and told the floating fate of individuals - "City of Sorrows"
Set against the backdrop of Taiwan's social realities from 1945 to 1949, "City of Sorrows" tells the story of the encounters and lives of the four Lin family brothers.
The film is known as the pinnacle of director Hou Hsiao-hsien, which has won three awards such as the Golden Lion Award in the main competition unit of the 46th Venice International Film Festival, and won two awards at the 26th Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards for Best Director and Best Actor.
The story begins in Keelung in 1945.
The Lin family is an ordinary family in Taiwan, there are four brothers in the family, the eldest Lin Wenxiong runs a commercial house, and there is a younger brother under him.
The second elder, who was once a doctor, was forcibly recruited to nanyang as a military doctor, and has not been heard from so far.
The old Sanlin Wenliang (Gao Jie) was also recruited to Shanghai as a translator, but after the defeat, he went crazy and was admitted to the hospital.
The old fourth Lin Wenqing (Liang Chaowei) became deaf when he was a child because he fell down from climbing a tree and ran a photo studio in the town.
Although the four brothers have all suffered misfortunes, fortunately, each has its own strengths, so their lives are still relatively stable.
The old fourth Lin Wenqing lives with his best friend Wu Kuanrong (Wu Yifang) and becomes friends with his sister Kuan Mei (Xin Shufen), although Wenqing is deaf, the two often communicate through writing, looking like they have been quiet for many years.
However, with the deterioration of the social environment, large and small twists and turns have also befallen the Lin family brothers.
After the old Sanlin Wenliang recovered from his illness, he met his old acquaintance "Shanghai Yankee" and became involved in the activities of smuggling and selling goods in the underworld.
One day, the boss Lin Wenxiong was led by the cry of his son Lin Guangming to go to the warehouse to get medicine, and accidentally discovered that his merchant ship was being smuggled by the "Shanghai Yankees", and became angry to stop Lin Wenliang.
But this also caused dissatisfaction among the "Shanghai Yankees" faction, so the Shanghai Yankees colluded and framed the brothers with the censorship of han traitors, Wen Liang was arrested, and Wen Xiong was injured in the foot during the escape.
Afterwards, in order to rescue his brother from prison, Wenxiong had to find the Shanghai yankees, hoping to destroy the wealth and eliminate the disaster, did not think that Wenliang was tortured in prison, and after he was released from prison, he had completely become a waste, like an idiot.
At the same time, outside the Lin family, the situation in Taiwan is also changing.
Within days, outlaws took control of much of Taiwan Province, and local governors arrested a large number of progressives in order to impose martial law.
Wen Qing's friend Kuan Rong is also a progressive young man, and in order to rescue the arrested Zhishi to go north, Wen Qing also follows him and is implicated and imprisoned.
After Kuan Rong's sister Kuan Mei learned from the letter that Wen Qing was in prison, she was full of worry, and while asking her brother to find a way to rescue Wen Qing, she helped him take care of the stormy Lin family.
After Wenqing was released, Kuan Rong complied with his sister's wishes and entrusted her to Wen Qing, and Wen Xiong and other relatives also looked at Kuan Mei's efforts and persuaded Wen Qing to become intimate with Kuan Mei as soon as possible.
But no one expected that soon after, Fumio met his old enemy in the liquor store, fought with the other party under hatred, and unfortunately lost his life.
Shortly after the funeral of the eldest brother, Wenqing finally married Kuan mei, and the newly married two accompanied each other and were happy to have a son, but the tragedy did not end here.
The youngest son was still in his infancy, and the couple received a letter from Kuan Rong, who was tipped off by traitors and told Wenqing and Kuan mei to flee as soon as possible.
Wenqing, worried about Kuan Rong's safety, decided to stay and help him, and Kuan Mei also decided to stay with her husband and brother.
At the end of the film, Wenqing is arrested, and the remaining people of the Lin family eat silently at the round table, and the lights flicker, as if the future is still unknown.
The overall tone of "City of Sorrows" is beautiful, soothing and bitter and sad, and the slow narration of a large number of long shots in the film makes the audience more empathetic to understand the involuntary of small people in the torrent of history.
Like the deaf Wenqing, he watched wordlessly while his friends were pinning down current politics, but with the arrival of the vigorous wave, he was eventually forced to get involved in the struggle.
In the face of the times, the fate of ordinary people is negligible, and in many cases, we do not even have the right to choose to be bystanders.