Message from sfamekao

[Anonymous]

“Riding Along for Thousand of Miles” is a movie to describe mainly about the relationships between a father and a son. An aging Japanese fisherman traveled to China to look for a local Nuo opera actor in Yunnan Province for his very ill son who is a Chinese folk cultural researcher but cannot go back to China to continue his research. Since the father and the son don’t have close relations, the father wants to accomplish his son’s incomplete will in China in order to express his love and sincerity to make up his relations with his loved son. However, he faces a great amount of difficulties when he arrives to China such as language barriers, the local regulations, and traditions and cultural differences. Along this trip, he realizes the reasons that caused the gap between him and his son through his interactions with local people. He also starts to understand his son’s loneliness and his longings for love from the father. But, when he solved all of the problems and almost accomplished his film assignment for his son, he heard his son’s death from Japan. The regret would last forever in his mind.

I like this movie because it describes incisively how a traditional Japanese father hides his love and feeling behind a serious and strict role at home. This tradition also can be seen in Chinese culture. It reminds me my father who has never said “I love you” to any of his children but using high expectations and strict discipline to show his love and supports to his children. Therefore, this movie touches my heart so as many Asian people’s hearts. I would like to have my students to watch this movie when we talk about the family relations and parent’s expectations in the class. It may be a good start to have students to compare and contrast how western and Asian parents communicate with their kids, the relations between two generations in different cultures, and the reasons behind it. Hopefully, the discussion will help my students, especially Asian students, to build more positive relations with their parents and reduce the gap between two generations in different cultures.