TLDR: I cried and laughed. All at the same time! This movie has everything. Just watch it. It's great 9/10
FULL REVIEW: I am a Dutch man married to a Taiwanese woman, and I stay in Taiwan for a few months every year. Some friends of ours wanted to go see this movie called BIG. I asked, "What's it about?" They said, "It's about a children's hospital, where the children are fighting against cancer." To be honest, I wasn't really interested in seeing this movie. Such a dark topic. Children with cancer? Can't we go see some other movie... something epic like the new Planet of the Apes movie or something?
But we went anyway... And I joined the group... And surprise surprise... SUCH A GREAT MOVIE! I am SO HAPPY that we went to see this movie. Let me explain (without spoiling the movie for you):
The movie is about the cancer ward in a children's hospital. We follow a group of children who are seriously ill and waiting for possible recovery. A situation of life and death. So, a tense situation...
The parents of the sick children are also present in the hospital to take care of their children. What stands out is that despite the children being ill, they remain playful and carefree. It's the parents who find it difficult to cope with the current situation of their sick children. That is of course understandable, but it paints a beautiful picture of how children live carefree lives, while we - the adults - often get entangled in the chaos of life that often has nothing to do with the current situation.
The children continue to play, while the parents worry about everything and anything. We see parents fighting over a divorce. Other parents have problems concerning their other child outside the hospital, and so on and so forth.
The movie beautifully shows how resilient children are. And how we as adults can learn something from that (When I was 12 years old myself, I spent weeks in the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital in the Netherlands. That was bad enough, but all the family drama from 'the adults, while I was sick - even though the intention was right - was an additional layer of unnecessary difficulties).
On a deeper level, this film by a Taiwanese director is profoundly Taiwanese:
* The Taiwanese society is built on Confucian values. One of those values is 'respect your elders.' This is a beautiful value, but in practice, in present-day Taiwan, it also causes a lot of trouble. A struggle between young and old. In this film, those values come across very well, but due to the disease cancer, the roles are suddenly reversed: the children lead the parents.
* The entire movie represents Taiwan (the country). As I understood from my Taiwanese friends, the film didn't bring in many viewers. Many people would rather go see Dune 2 than a film about children with cancer. As I wrote at the beginning of this review: I would too. But that reminds me of the following: Taiwan is a country that is not often visited by tourists. People prefer to go to Bali or Japan. Or South Korea. Taiwan is never high on the list. But when people do visit Taiwan, they are pleasantly surprised. A beautiful country, rich in culture, good food, good infrastructure, and loving people. I've been experiencing that for 15 years now. And that's how I see this film too. A film that probably not many people will see, but when they do, you will fall in love with it. Not for the special effects, but by the touching story. Funny and sad. (And of course touched by the great acting of the children and adults)
I want to thank director Te-Sheng Wei and all the people who worked on this film for their wonderful work!
Best regards,
Percy Tienhooven from the Netherlands.
