If you walk through the streets of the small towns of Quemoy or Kinmen nowadays, you would not imagine the kind of destruction and misery during the 30 years of shelling by the Chinese army, which cost the lives of many. However, if one looks closer, there are signs of an army being present, in this case the Taiwanese who used the island as a training ground for their soldiers, but also resisted the enemy there. The island just some miles from the Chinese coast and is something of a curiosity in the minds of many, especially directors such as Hung Chun-hsiu who tells the stories of three islanders in his documentary feature “Remember Me”, which already screened at Taiwan International Documentary Festival and the Taipei Film Awards.
Remember Me is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival
According to the director’s statement, the “voluntary self-recruitment” to Kinmen in order to shoot the documentary aimed to answer why many Taiwanese still seemed to be scared of the island when they are drafted and why is it a “stronghold for pan-KMT supporters”. Following the life stories of three people, the owner of a local photography shop, a retired officer and a Chinese woman from Sichuan province, Hung attempts to find answers to these questions, and uncovers deeply human stories of people coping with the horrors of the past and different narratives which may reveal interesting insights into present conflicts within Taiwan and China. Apart from conversations with the three people, the director employs various bits of archival footage, some connected to the biographies of the three, some more general in nature, such as propaganda films or photographs.
There is certainly no shortage of insights in “Remember Me”, as a consequence of the three people he has chosen to be at the center of his project. All three are not only very charismatic, but their stories relate to a larger degree to the fates of the people around them, as well as to the island as a whole. Especially Lee Kuo-ming, the photographer, stands out with his accounts being on the one hand humorist and funny while some uncover tragic truths hidden within the unassuming outside his hometown. For example, when he shows the director one of the many bunkers, which is now flooded, where he and many others used to hide during one of the many bombings that went on for thirty years.
However, the other aspect of the feature, which is more embedded in the present of the island, and its role as something of a metaphor for Taiwanese-Chinese relations, is both revealing and thought-provoking. The other two stories, a man who was drafted in the 1980s and sent to Kinmen, and a woman who is now a soldier there, may be seen as a blend of the narrative promoted by both governments, but also off the human angle within this conflict. Again, the images, blending the past and the present, and thus pointing at certain parallels, as well as the accounts themselves, define the interesting approach the director has chosen for this project.
In conclusion, “Remember Me” is a documentary about the island of Kinmen, its past and present, as well as its role as a metaphor of the relationship of Taiwan and China. Hung Chun-hsiu’s approach and especially the stories he has chosen for his feature are revealing and quite telling when it comes to the link between the history of the island and the present socio-political landscape of these two countries.
