A City Of Sadness Film Analysis

In A City of Sadness, movie director Hou Hsiao-Hsien vividly captures the despair of the Taiwanese through the Lin family following the surrender of Japan in 1945 to when the Nationalist Party completely retreats to Taiwan after losing the Mainland to the Communist Party in 1949. Throughout the movie, despair is depicted through the collapse of the Lin family, where one after another, members (the sons) of the family are lost as they struggle against the power of new government implemented by the Mainlanders. Yet, not all hope is lost. The scene where the Grandfather has dinner with the rest of Lin family with all the lights brightly lit still shows a glimpse of hope for the future of the people and the country. The children of the Lin family symbolize hope for the family, which can also be applied to the country as a whole where the younger generation is seen as the hope of the Taiwan.
The dinner shows the old-aged grandfather sitting at the dinner table eating silently with the third son and other members of the Lin family while the children are seen …show more content…
In contrast to the dead silence that is shown during the scene, the brightly lit living room does the exact opposite, bringing what seems to be a lifeless living room out of the darkness that comes from the night. The brightly lit living room can be tied back to the very beginning of the film, when the mistress of the oldest son gave birth to their only son named Kang-ming, meaning light. The birth and the name of the son symbolizes a new life and a new beginning. While many tragedies have happened in between the birth of the child and the scene showing where the Lin family have their last dinner, the birth of Kang-ming continues to symbolize hope for the family. The birth of Kang-ming represents the birth of a new generation in Taiwan, and it will be up to the new generation of Taiwanese to push for reform within the