The Gangster’s God
炸神明
Every Lantern Festival in eastern Taiwan, a group of men strips bare above the waist, and wearing nothing but red shorts, stands on a sacred palanquin, allowing people to pound their bodies with bottlerockets, singeing their skin. They are believed to be human incarnations of the god Handan. The “Scorching of Handan” has in recent years become a major event in eastern Taiwan – Taidong. Those who take part in the ritual have always been shrouded in mystery, and rumored to be members of the gangster underworld.
The film delves deeply into the local underworld community of Taidong..The reason these three underworld members play the role of “living Handans” is to serve the true god in heaven. Some hope to extricate themselves from the life of the Taiwanese underworld; others are learning how to enter into it. Some have worked as hit men. Some still work as strongmen collecting debts. They have all served time in prison, and have committed various crimes. Through this ritual, we can witness the rules and relationships within this small underworld community, as well as the different values that different generations hold toward popular religious beliefs.
Directors
Ho Chao-ti
Ho Chao-li hi a documentary Filmmaker and director. Her works have addressed a broad range of subject matter, from traditional folk music to disadvantaged groups to contemporary cultural fusion. She formerly worked as a magazine editor, newspaper and television reporter, and community-college lecturer on media and gender issues. In the 1990s, she conducted a field survey of indigenous theater and traditional culture on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, and researched child prostitution in the newly developed special economic zones of East Asia. The works of Ho Chao-ti were invited to Taiwan International Documentary Festival, Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival, Women Make Waves Film Festival in Taiwan.