Film Review: ‘Beyond Beauty: Taiwan From Above’
Directed by Chi Po-lin , Taiwan
Starting off[5]
like a tourist promo[6],
“Beyond Beauty: Taiwan Taiwan Taiwan
Following
its world premiere[23]
at the first Taoyuan Film Festival, the film went on to win the Golden Horse
Award for best documentary and even inspired a Facebook post by President
Ma Ying-jeou, announcing that the government would start work on 16 of the
environmental problems highlighted by the film.
Combining[24]
extensive knowledge[25]
of Taiwan’s geography (drawn from a long stint[26]
at the National Highway Engineering Bureau[27])
with 20 years’ experience as a professional aerial photographer, Chi spent
about 400 hours’ flying time over three years to capture his images. The
approximately $9 million project has an advantage over “Home” in focusing on
one territory with its specific culture and ecosystem, thus avoiding the sort
of sanctimonious[28]
tone that can come with generalizations. Via the sincere, approachable[29]
voiceover[30]
of masterful[31]
Taiwan New Wave screenwriter-helmer Wu Nien-jen (“A Borrowed Life”), the
narration, though often mournful[32],
also evokes a Chinese-style poetic romanticism[33].
As
the camera swoops over[34]
the verdurous[35]
topography[36],
its roads and tributaries[37]
intertwined like branches of a tree, Wu promises to show Taiwan Taiwan
High
mountains that occupy two-thirds of the land are ravaged[42]
by heavy logging[43],
roadwork, and over-harvesting of minerals and cash crops like tea and betel nut[44].
Moving from land to water, things only get worse. Mud and stone deposits from
construction projects pollute reservoirs[45]
and reduce their life expectancy[46].
The building of breakwaters[47]
for farming has nearly cordoned off[48]
the coastline from the ocean. One-half of Taiwan Taichung
All
this environmental malpractice[52] may not be unique to Taiwan
Viewed
from such a high altitude, the degree of devastation looks especially grave,
yet it’s hard to look away[53]. Chi is expert at capturing images with powerful impact,
such as condos[54] perched[55] precariously[56] on a visibly eroded[57] precipice[58], or canals with water as black as squid ink running
through large residential areas, or woodland’s bald patches[59] after being razed[60] for limestone[61] and silica[62] mining.
The
last 15 minutes or so lighten up with the introduction of nature-conscious
entrepreneurs[63] who operate organic farms against all odds[64]. The closing shots provide a change of scenery with
truly wondrous[65] vistas[66] of Taiwan’s multi-hued[67] landscape, but increasing the proportion of such
positive material would actually strengthen the film’s argument for dealing
with these crises pronto[68].
Considered
Taiwan ’s top aerial
photographer, Chi, lensing in Cineflex Hidef, immerses the viewer in a sense of
perpetual[69] fluidity[70]. The score by Singapore’s Ricky Ho (“Warriors of the
Rainbow: Seediq Bale”), which features three aboriginal songs written by
“Warriors'” pastor-turned-lead-actor Lin Ching-tai, brim[71] with uplifting[72] spirituality, especially when sung by a choir that
appears to have been airdropped onto an unnervingly tall mountain peak.
http://variety.com/2014/film/global/film-review-beyond-beauty-taiwan-from-above-1201050029/
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