[Film] The Great Buddha+ (大佛普拉斯)

18 April 2018

“The Great Buddha+ (大佛普拉斯)”---‘What is your background?’

Release Year: 2017

Country: Taiwan

Director: Huang Hsin-yao（黃信堯）

Cast: Cres Chuang（莊益增）, Bamboo Chen Chu-sheng（陳竹昇）, Leon Dai（戴立忍）

Location I watched: Golden Village Paya Lebar

Story from SFS (Singapore Film Society) website:

Pickle is a night security guard at a bronze statue factory, who also plays in a band at funerals when time permits. Earning a meager income, Pickle lives with his elderly mother. His best friend Belly Button works as a recycling collector during the day, and Pickle’s biggest pleasure in life is flicking through Belly Button’s collection of porn magazines. One day, their television is damaged, changing their lives forever. At first, they watch the footages recorded on their boss’s dash cam for fun, and soon they get addicted to peeping into the boss’s colorful private life and accidentally discover the boss’s unspeakable secret...

This film was shown as part of the regular screening of Singapore Film Society (SFS).

Recently, I am always worried about income and money. So I did not feel that the 2 middle-aged protagonists of this film are living in a different world from me. In a way, we are the same.

When the opening credits begin, we hear the voice of a narrator speaking to the audience. He thanks the producer, following the credits on the screen. It is really funny. Throughout the film, the narrator sometimes inserts comments about the characters or situations. He mentions even when the film reached the halfway point, or what will happen on a character from now. His plain narration with the black-and-white images makes this film like a documentary, while at the same time, like an old allegory. This mixture of realism and poetry strikes the audience.

The 2 protagonists, Pickle and Belly Button have a tough and miserable life. The world is ugly. Rich are rich and poor are poor. “The Great Buddha+” is a gloomy film, but for some reason, at the same time, it is funny.

For example, in a scene where Belly Button is talking to Pickle in his security guard room.

Belly Button, “To become rich, 30% comes from cheating and 70% comes from your background. What is your background?”

Pickle, “...”

Belly Button, “What is your background? Huh?”

Pickle, ”Orange, pineapple, banana...”

(Belly Button notices a calendar with a fruit design on the wall behind Pickle.)

Belly Button, “...You forgot one more thing.”

Pickle, “Water Apple?”

Their lackluster daily life goes on between pathos and humour. Then its “peace” is broken when Pickle and Belly Button accidentally find a horrible crime committed by the boss who runs the factory making a big bronze Buddha statue. However, what impressed me more is not about the boss’s secret, but about Pickle’s thought for Belly Button. After Belly Button’s death (which unfortunately happens in the middle of the film), Pickle visits his house for the first time. Pickle realizes that he did not actually know anything about what Belly Button was thinking despite having been always together. The narrator says that even in the era we can go to outer space using rockets, we still do not know about the inner space of a person. Mystery about humans is deeper than mysteries on crime.

“The Great Buddha+” has not only a chilling climax. The final scene during the ending credits also should not be missed. The conclusion is a big stroke maybe by the bronze Buddha or something above us seeing the human realm: the world of ugly, miserable, weak, silly, sad and mysterious human beings. (28 April 2018)