Chung Tsai

Protagonist Ah Chung lives in a slum district of Taipei. The area is alongside a park, but also functions as dumping ground for sewerage and chemical waste. Ah Chung’s mentally handicapped younger brother is almost run over by a truck dumping illegal waste. Ah Chung’s mother is reprimanded by a policeman for letting her retarded son out on the street at night. Her unfortunate son, a daughter who was raped by her stepfather and lots of other misery give the mother the idea that the gods are not served humbly and honestly enough, because after all, the gods see everything. That’s why she warns Ah Chung to join the so-called Pa Chia Chiang group, where one of Taiwan’s most solemn, spectacular and mysterious ceremonial rituals is performed. Ah Chung doesn’t really believe in it and when his senile grandfather dies and his sister is severely wounded in a street fight between rival gangs, he leaves the group.With a budget of only 290,000 dollars Chang Tso-chi has made a grand and ambitious-looking production. The director saw this relatively small budget as more of an encouragement than an hindrance: ‘I really wanted to work with a group of amateurs. I find myself on the boundary between “telling a story” and “showing reality”. That gives me an opportunity to express a certain attitude to life.’