Chao Ji Guo Min Synopsis & Summary

When the ghost of a former patron comes to haunt him, a bereaved Taiwanese cab-driver finds solace in the notion that there is indeed life after death. Though it has been years since his son suffered an accidental fatal fall from a rooftop, Ah-De remains trapped in a vortex of grief. Before the incident, Ah-De had been happily married and was actively involved with campaigning for the rights of Taiwan's indigenous people, but after his son's death, Ah-De withdrew from the world and his loved ones, causing his wife to leave him. Since then, Ah-De immersed himself in his career of driving a taxi in Taipei. One day, he stops to pick up Mah-Le, a native Taiwanese who came to the great city to find his parents. Just before hailing Ah-De's cab, Mah-Le had cut off the head of his construction boss with a ceremonial sword in retaliation against the latter's constant barrage of racial slurs and his cruel treatment of Mah-Le. The killer is caught and executed, and afterward his spirit comes to reside in Ah-De's cab, causing the cab driver to rethink his notions of an afterlife. This simple but dramatic tale was screened at the 1998 Venice Film Festival. - Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide