Reviews

White Dog is the movie that will shock you and leave you disturbed for a long time. After watching this movie in my film study class, I got deeply affected by it and literally became depressed for a few days. The movie was basically banned from being released due to its violent contents and taboo topic. The story is basically about a white dog that got trained to attack colored people. The director uses white dog as a symbol to portray the prejudice problems within the society. Everybody is born like a piece of clean paper as white as the dog in the movie. However, as we grow up, we were taught certain ideas and hatreds that shut ourselves in fear of others who are different from us. We then become ignorant and prejudice to certain things and people. I believe in each one of us there exists a white dog. It is hidden inside of us waiting for one day to come out and bite people. I really recommend this movie. After watching it, it will make you want to get rid of the white dog inside of us and become a better person.

The Wedding Banquet was the first Ang Lee film that I watched. I remember I was about 10 or 11 years old when I watched it. At that time, I did not understand the movie at all. However, as I grow older, I watched it again and I realized what a masterpiece that Ang Lee had accomplished. Coming from the same background, as Taiwanese immigrant to the United States, I can certainly relate many of issues with the protagonist Wai-Tung. My parents are exactly like Wai-Tung's parents. They have high expectation of the son and carry on the family name is the most important thing. Ang Lee did a very good job on depicting the traditional father figure in Taiwanese society. My father, very much like Wai-Tung's, is a very serious person. To him everything has to be done straight and upright. My mother on the other hand is very sentimental. She would just cry like Wai-Tung's mother in the movie. Taiwanese mothers always care for their son so much that they literally do everything for their son, just like how Wai-Tung's mother sets up a blind date for him. My parents are so serious that sometimes if I joke about me liking a man they would get upset. Therefore, I really can understand how Wai-Tung has to hide his secret for such a long time in the movie.

I like how Ang Lee uses Wai-Tung to represent Taiwan; Wei-Wei to represent China, and Simon to represent the US. In the movie, there is one scene where Wei-Wei wears a red dress in the air port picking up Wai-Tung's parents, I just could not help myself but laugh at the expression that Wai-Tung's dad gives when he sees Wei-Wei. He must think her as another communist he fought in the Chinese civil war. Another fascinating thing about this movie is that I watched it again in my film study class and even the movie is in mandarin, my classmates seem to understand the messages and laugh about them. I guess it is the magic of the movie. It really can transcend time and languages. Overall, Wedding Banquet has became my all time favorite of all the Ang Lee films.

The other conquest is the kind of movie that will stay in your mind for a long time. I watched it in my film study class and I was extremely fortunate to have the director, Salvador Carrasco, as my professor. The movie was beautifully shot even it took Dir. Carrasco seven years to make. In the movie, I believe Dir. Carrasco was trying to present a universal theme, the duality of human conquest. There is no black and white; right or wrong. After watching the movie, for a none-religious person like myself, it is hard to believe how a religion can have such profound effect on the believers to actually use brutal forces to conquer others into accepting the same belief. However, the movie reminds me of what happened to my country, Taiwan, in the past. In many ways, Taiwan is very similar to Mexico. We had been conquered and ruled by several regimes, including Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese. We share many similar incidents where indigenous people got slaughtered for defying the regime. The movie reminds me of my root and surprises me how the two countries share the similar fate in the past.

We also had the honor to have the actor, Damián Delgado, invited to the class. He discussed about how indigenous people got treated unequally just because of their skin color and their root. It really makes you wonder are all men created equal? The situations that Mr. Delgado described also happen to the indigenous people in my country. This movie makes you think in the end. Hopefully, it makes you become a better human being who knows how to respect and cherish the others.