Review

In Park, a documentary by Taiwanese director So Yo-Hen, we follow two Indonesian international students. Asri and Hasan meet daily in Tainan Park where Indonesian migrant workers often gather to talk. Asri says that he owes his opportunity to pursue a Ph.D. in Taiwan to the hard labor of Indonesian workers there. And as an extension of that belief, he begins to recite poetry drawn from their lives. The duo eventually starts a small broadcast to share migrant workers' voices from the park itself. However, Park challenges traditional documentary expectations. Asri and Hasan are not merely subjects. Rather, they feel like co-creators and the scenes seem staged. The film becomes a sort of "hybrid documentary" that ignores all the boundaries of a documentary. Production notes and behind-the-scenes moments are folded into the story, and whatever the filmmakers want becomes reality. Regarding this methodology, director So said, "Take landscape painting for example. The artist couldn't bring the landscape in front of their eyes directly into the exhibition, no matter how realistic the painting is. But when the artist selects, adjusts, and decorates what they see, sometimes the soul could travel further." But the experiences of Indonesian migrant workers are vividly real. A worker was called a "foreign exchange hero" by people back home for earning money in Taiwan, while another recounts how her father disappeared during the Suharto military dictatorship—only for her to later move to Taiwan and marry a soldier. Through these stories, we catch a bittersweet glimpse into their complex, layered lives. (MOON Seok)

More +Less -