Island in Between
Well, Oscar nomination day has come and gone, and I have realized that I am woefully behind in watching the movies that were nominated. I am now on a quest to amend that, starting with the short films and working my way up.
Island in Between [2023]
Directed by & Featuring S. Leo Chiang
Language: English and Mandarin Chinese
In my Human Geography class, we have been looking at at border disputes, and how states will often contest borders due to political, social, and economic differences. One example we have studied in particular is China and Taiwan, and how years of conflict have separated people who are ethnically and culturally similar yet different only in political ideology. And this movie explored exactly that: detailing not only the narrator's journey between finding 'home' between Taipei in Taiwan and Beijing in China, but looking at how the focal point for tension can be seen most clearly in Kinmeng, a Taiwanese island off the coast of Mainland China.
As is the case with big geopolitical tensions, it is often difficult to look at the human suffering behind large conflicts. This is something I have always been frustrated by: the experiences of individuals are reduced to numbers, and stories become disposable. Watching this documentary, however, voiced all of these frustrations I have beautifully. It did look at the wider context of relations between China and Taiwan, and the historical context of how the two states gradually became increasingly separated, but it did what film is supposed to do: storytell. The narrator's journey: how it lead him to Kinmeng, equidistant between the capitals of China and Taiwan was interesting as he explored the humans in the middle. He looked at those army members who are forced into conflict with a country that is so similar, and looked at Taiwanese people who has been separated by their relatives in China.
If anything, this movie was a huge statement on the reunification of China and Taiwan. The narrator's main message was one of peace: and the documentary made the case that people so similar shouldn't be separated by large conflict. What really got to me was his brief focus on the sunsets in the island of Kinmeng: how they transcend borders and time and are equal in the way they are viewed.
Leo Chiang says it himself - in an age where Taiwan is getting more international attention, and Taiwanese relations with China are getting steadily more strained, there is a need for a human approach to the conflict, a peaceful approach. And this documentary outlines that.
