by Brian Hioe
語言:
English
Photo credit: 民主，練習中/Facebook
THE ACCIDENTAL POLITICIAN (民主，練習中) follows ten years in the life of Sunflower activist turned politician, Liao Yu-hsien. While the documentary also depicts in parallel Kuo Lin-han or “Melon,” a fellow activist who also enters electoral politics, it still mainly focuses on Liao. The Accidental Politician joins the ranks of other documentaries that depict the life and times of Sunflower Movement activists, then, whether that be Our Youth in Taiwan or The Edge of Night.
Where The Accidental Politician stands out is that it focuses on rural politics in Taiwan, seeing as Liao and Kuo return to their hometowns of Yunlin and Yilan, respectively. Both start out as members of the NPP, but eventually split from the party with the growing power of Huang Kuo-chang. Kuo is electorally unsuccessful, though he stays in Yilan to continue working at efforts to establish grassroots politics. By contrast, Liao manages to stay a term in the county council before being ousted.
The Accidental Politician shows the degree to which rural local politics in Taiwan is plagued by issues of corruption. In tackling the longstanding issues of pollution regarding the No. 6 Naptha Cracker, Liao has charges filed against her by other members of the county council for attempting to livestream committee meetings about the cracker–other members of the county council would prefer that even who is on the committee stays under wraps.
In continually engaging in protest movements against forced evictions, Liao builds a reputation in Yunlin. But this also increasingly makes her a thorn in the side of the vested interests that control the county, leading Liao to face an uphill struggle against opponents who buy votes–paying individuals 6,000 NT to not vote for Liao, regardless of who they vote for. In the end, Liao is defeated. This leaves Liao to pick up the pieces of what to do next with her life.
Melon finds his own answer, opening a congee shop and pouring his energies into his store. It is less clear what Liao ultimately settles on, though the movie closes on the note of the emergence of the Bluebird Movement. While the documentary film spends relatively little time depicting the Sunflower Movement, in light of that there are already many documentaries on the Sunflower Movement, the suggestion is that politics proves somewhat cyclical between movements and electoral politics in Taiwan.
Given its subject matter, comparisons between The Accidental Politician and Our Youth in Taiwan are inevitable, with the latter following Sunflower Movement activist Chen Wei-ting into his failed run for Miaoli county magistrate. Like Chen, who allowed filmmakers to film his political downfall in the course of a sexual harassment scandal, Liao allows high levels of access to the filmmakers, permitting them to film her parents’ funerals. Still, if Liao proves a talkative and dynamic subject, one ultimately comes away with less emotional insight into Liao compared to Chen, who allowed himself to be filmed even at his emotional worst.
To this extent, the documentary’s conclusion, with a brief reference to the Bluebird Movement comes off as a bit tacked on. There is simply not enough in the film about Liao’s life in the years before and during the Bluebird Movement, and this is a major defect of the movie. In fact, the inclusion of the Bluebird Movement comes off slightly as included just to make a movie that primarily consists of footage from the 2022 election cycle more relevant to the
Still, The Accidental Politician is a heartfelt movie, and it is like few others in documenting the dynamics of rural politics in Taiwan. It is still a documentary that is capably shot and is moving. For those who are interested in Taiwanese politics or who have a link to the Sunflower Movement, it is worth watching.