Beschreibung

Im Rahmen der Taiwankulturwoche zeigen wir "The Long Goodbye".

An engaging look at six elderly patients sadly and slowly losing their grip on reality and history.

Shooting the film did not progress smoothly at first, as the crew had difficulties getting permission from family members to film at the center. “Most families were unwilling to give us the green light because they had a notion that to contract the disease is shameful,” Yang lamented, adding that a great deal of effort was required to persuade the families involved.

Originally, the crew wanted to film every resident in the home since they did not know where the story would be, but gradually, six main protagonists emerged.

One was Grandma Jin-jen, who arrived at St. Joseph the same day that shooting began and was thus able to show the crew what it was like to make the transition from the outside world to the ward.

Uncle Yin, another main character, was an intelligence agent who failed to assassinate Mao Zedong during the Chinese Civil War and later became a fugitive. Yin was hard to film because he suspected that Yang and his team members were communist agents out to kill him. His part was so difficult to shoot that the crew almost gave up.

“Yin was terrified and would always attack us and the camera,” the director said. However, half a year later, the old man tapped Yang on the shoulder one day and said, “Now I know you’re not a commie, but remember to never let them use you.”

Madame Wang also came from mainland China. Before settling in Taiwan, where she became an English teacher, Wang had been a National Assembly representative for Shanxi province, a very high-ranking position. “She cherished the memory of her father,” Yang recalled. “Whenever the camera was aimed at her, Wang would think we were taking pictures, and would ask us for the photos because she wanted to send them to her father back home.”

Grandma A-shun was the only one who passed away during the making of the film. “Her husband visited her twice a day,” Yang said. “We were very touched by his actions, because he never abandoned her and was always there, which is why we decided to focus on him eventually.”

Unlike A-shun’s husband, some family members were unwilling to visit the residents, as manifested by Uncle Liang-wen and his family. According to Yang, the family members were victims of domestic violence, so they kept as far away from him as possible. However, an incident that happened during his daughter’s visit helped mend the broken ties.

Suffering from physical degradation, the old man almost fell over one day, but his daughter caught him just in time.

Of the six protagonists, a 55-year-old grandmother, Shui-mei, from eastern Taiwan’s Atayal tribe, was the most unusual, because she suffered from vascular dementia, which led to aphasia. “‘Dudumama’ is the only sound Shui-mei can make, but one day she sang ‘Green Island Serenade’ without missing a word,” Yang recalled. “When she reached the end where the lyrics go ‘Darling, why are you still silent?’ she became very quiet and walked back to her room. It was as if she knew she was singing about herself.”

According to Yang, the six characters come from all segments of society. “This highlights that dementia is a very fair disease,” the director pointed out. “It does not matter if you’re male or female, Taiwanese or mainlander, less or highly educated or with low or high social status, everyone has the same chance of getting dementia.

“This is a story about us because we will all grow old and fall sick,” Yang said, citing a friend. “I certainly felt huge pressure in making this film, but I saw joy through my lens and feel I have touched upon the essence of life.” (HZW)

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