Chinese Studies

Call Number
CHI0065

台湾基隆林姓人家有四个儿子。父亲年迈，老大文雄主持家务。1945年日本无条件投降，台湾光复后，从大陆来了接收大员、国民党军队、地痞流氓、具有社会主义思想的人士等等。老三回来后因汉奸问题，被打得精神失常。聋哑老四文清和好朋友、小学教师吴宽容，经常与一群青年聚谈，议论欠薪、失业、贪污、军人蛮横无理等社会问题。一次，大家情绪激昂，慷慨高歌《流亡三部曲》，老三因受歌声刺激，精神得以恢复正常。后老三与黑社会分子混在一起，时常互相仇杀。流氓勾结上层官府，以汉奸罪逮捕老三。老大多方奔波，终使老三获释，但他的疯病却复发。哑巴老四脚踏实地，从事照相业务，与吴宽容在矿区当护士的妹妹宽美结为夫妻。二•二八事件发生后，百姓奋起反对国民党统治的腐败，国民党当局大肆镇压。不久，一些为台湾前途而奋斗的志士在活动中走风失事，老四被捕。老大在声色场中死于流氓的枪击。老四的妻子茹苦含辛，抚养着呀呀学语的幼儿。

The film depicts one family's experiences during the White Terror. The eldest brother is murdered by a Shanghai mafia boss, one of the middle brothers is driven insane in a KMT jailhouse, and the youngest brother Lin Wen-Ch'ing (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) is a mute who wants to flee to the mountains with his friends to fight in the anti-KMT resistance movement. By the end of the film only the youngest brother, the photographer Wen-Ch'ing, is alive to tell, in writing, the story of his family's destruction.[source]