A Time To Die Movie Analysis

A Time to Live, a Time to Die is a movie that spans between 1947-1965 following the life of the Director himself. The film follows the maturity of Ah Hsiao, the young protagonist of the movie. Ah Hsiao grew up in Taiwan and even though his family immigrated there when he was very young from Mainland China, he adapts very quickly to living in Taiwan. Throughout the movie, there is a constant internal struggle with Ah Hsiao. He is often put in the situation where he has to family, schooling, and his affiliation with a street gang.
The movie begins shortly after the end of World War II. Furthermore, after the Japanese surrendered to the Allies at the end of World War II, they proceeded to return to China all the territories it had colonized, including Taiwan. After the Taiwan handover from the Japanese to the Chinese, as seen in the film, the life of the Taiwanese citizens does not change that much. Taiwan starts being controlled by Chinese nationalist forces called the Kuomingtang, or KMT. However, after the end of
Ah Hsiao’s family show a great amount of loyalty to Mainland China throughout the whole movie. In addition, there are numerous scenes where Ah Hsiao’s grandmother suggests to go back to live in Mainland China. It is clear that Ah Hsiao and his family are stuck in between two worlds. The reason they left Mainland China was to provide a healthier and more natural environment to their father who was a sickly man but they’re also very loyal to their Chinese roots. With the unemployment in Taiwan, we see how the family is affected throughout the film. Ah Hsiao and his family live very humbly where they make all of their resources count. There is this scene where Ah Hsiao steals $5 from his mother and buries it. When his mother finds out, Ah Hsiao is beaten and scolded by his mother. They lived off of around $600 a month, and because of it, every penny counted for