Reading Response Seven

1. After WWII, China took back control of Taiwan from the Japanese. Since Japan had controlled Taiwan for 50 years, there was a large social gap between the Chinese and Taiwanese, especially in regards to the language. The Chinese Nationalist government was very authoritarian and deprived native Taiwanese any share of political power. After a woman was caught smuggling cigarettes by government tobacco monopolists, a group of police officers beat her. The following day, February 28th, riots started breaking out all over the island but were eventually put to a stop. The army began arresting and executing people that they thought might be able to continuing the rebellion. A report released 45 years after the incident estimates that between 18,000 and 28,000 people were killed.

2. Certain people seem to think that Hou doesn't portray the February 28th incident quite like it should be. Instead of focusing on the larger story of the brutality by the Nationalist government, Hou focuses on smaller issues to make the film more universal.

3. One thing that comes to mind is the sudden age progression of Ah-ha. One moment he's a young boy and all of sudden he's a young man. There was never any explanation of how this happened, either through the use of editing or narration. The audience is left to figure this out on their own after some of the young men begin referring to this new character as Ah-ha. This was a very confusing moment in the film, and I don't think I would have caught on as fast if it had not been mentioned before we started watching.