Documentary ‘Beyond Beauty’ Captures Taiwan From Above
A highway runs along Chingshui Cliff in
eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County. Click to see more photos.
It has been said that when the early
Portuguese explorers first laid eyes on Taiwan in the 1500s, they were so
impressed with the island’s lush green mountains and pristine turquoise
shorelines that they decided to name the place “Ilha Formosa” — beautiful
island — on the spot.
More than 500 years later, as Taiwan
transforms from an agrarian society to a high-tech-dominated economy, many of
the majestic peaks that took the settlers’ breath away have been sullied by
residential blocks, tea plantations, and high-end hotels. The once clear waters
off its beaches are also discolored by the massive amount of chemical waste
discharged by factories each year.
In a way, what happened in Taiwan is a
reflection of what’s happening in many parts of the world,” said Chi Po-lin,
the director of this year’s Golden Horse Awards winner for best documentary,
“Beyond Beauty, Taiwan from Above.”
The 48-year-old aerial
photographer-turned-filmmaker used to work for the government’s National
Highway Engineering Bureau, taking tens of thousands images of the island
during helicopter trips over the past two decades.
Sitting in his small Taipei office, lined
with books on Taiwan’s landscape and geography, he said he had long wanted to
make a movie based on his photographs, but for years it seemed like a
far-fetched dream. That changed in 2009, when French photographer Yann
Arthus-Bertrand released his aerial documentary “Home” on climate change and
global warming.
Mr. Chi said his motivation for making “Beyond”
was not to point a finger at a certain industry or even the government, but to
present a realistic view of Taiwan’s growing environmental problems. His hope
is to make people think twice the next time they throw out the garbage or turn
on the faucet.
In his 93-minute film, audiences are taken
on a bird’s-eye journey by helicopter across Taiwan’s various landscapes, with
background music by award-winning composer Ricky Ho. While the movie documents
Taiwan’s rich biodiversity, it also bears witness to the worsening devastation
wrought by humans.
The documentary opens with images of the
island’s unspoiled natural beauty as the camera pans from the unbroken
mountains ranges of Yangmingshan National Park in the north, to the
sapphire-hued alpine Jiaming Lake in the east and the roaming indigenous
wildlife of the south. Then, the spell is broken as the film detours to
locations that are being destroyed as a result of Taiwan’s rapid
industrialization.
One of the most unsettling images is of a
traditionally scenic spot in the Alishan Mountains, visited by millions of
tourists each year. The view from above shows a popular sunrise viewing point
at a train station, which sits at the edge of a precipice in danger of
landslides each time a typhoon or earthquake hits.
The documentary also shows the waters near
many Taiwan’s industrial parks tainted with toxic hues of green, crimson and
fluorescent orange, as factories continue to pump out waste into rivers that
feed water sources for the residents and marine life nearby.
Though scenes like this are alarming, Mr.
Chi said he views of himself more as a storyteller or record-keeper than an
environmental activist. His goal, he insisted, is to tell the tale of Taiwan
and let the audience decide what changes they can make in their lives to
decelerate the island’s demise.
“I am not here to judge, because I
understand there is a price to pay to live the way to we do right now,” said
the director. “But each of us must stop pretending that all this destruction is
not happening.”
He added, “Just because we refuse to see it
or pretend it is not there, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
pristine 質樸
turquoise shorelines 綠松石海岸線
Ilha Formosa 福爾摩沙
agrarian society 農業社會
high-tech-dominated economy 高科技為主導的經濟
residential blocks 高樓大廈
high-end hotels 高檔酒店
Chi Po-lin 齊柏林
Beyond Beauty 看見台灣
aerial 空中的
far-fetched 遙不可及的
faucet 水龍頭
Ricky Ho 何國杰，"看見台灣"電影配樂作曲人
documents 記錄
devastation毀壞
unspoiled 未受汙染的
Yangmingshan 陽明山
sapphire-hued 寶藍色調的
alpine 高山
Jiaming Lake 嘉明湖
roaming 漫遊;遨遊
Alishan Mountains 阿里山
fluorescent 螢光的
pump out 泵出
marine 海洋
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