Sharing is Caring: Paradise in Service (Taiwanese Film) Movie Review

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Paradise in Service (Taiwanese Film)

Paradise in Service is a Taiwanese historical film directed by Doze Niu set in the chaotic period in Chinese history whereby there is huge tension between China and Taiwan due to independence issue of Taiwan.

In the film, Ethan Ruan plays Luo Bao Tai who is a new recruit in the navy of the Taiwanese army. Training is tough and recruits were asked to “think of yourself as a dog!”

However Luo has a problem, he can’t swim. So he is being transferred to a department Unit 831 also known as “Paradise of the Army” (or Paradise in Service).

The department as its name suggest is a “Paradise” for the army man to “deal” and “settle” with their physical needs (sexual needs). So it’s basically a brothel with “servicer” usually addressed by their number rather than name.

Luo is a virgin who has the traditional thoughts of reserving his first time for his wife so he actually find it rather uncomfortable and slightly disgusted about serving in this unit.

However, he also get close with his officer, Chang from his previous section, who would often come to visit number 8, a servicer name Jiao.

The relation between Luo and Chang is very interesting and the bromance very convincing and genuine. Chang seems cruel and unsympathetic back then when Luo is still in the navy but it turned out that there is actually another side of him who is rather sentimental and actually care for Luo.

The film consists of 3 intertwined stories, with Luo’s story being the main line. The different lines tell a different story or aspect about army life – Luo’s friend which depicts the bullying, unfair and unreasonable treatment in the army between the seniors and juniors while Chang’s story with Jiao depicts the insecurity and desperation of the woman who served as prostitute for different reasons.

I think Jiao is one of the best crafted character in the film despite her not being the main lead. She is money-minded, selfish but at the same time feeling insecure and inferior. Her back story is very convincing and clearly justify why she turned out this way. She is just detestable and pitiful at the same time.

Other characters while don’t stand out as much as Jiao, have their own charm and some of their back stories are as interesting as Jiao’s. I guess the most “flat” characters has to be Luo and NiNi, but that doesn’t make them any boring, at least their romance and friendship is rather entertaining to watch.

I like how emotions are being portrayed in the film. The director skillfully use the combination music piece with great directing angle (and of course great acting) to draw the viewers into the inner world of the characters. One of the best and most emotional scene has got to be the one whereby Chang relate about his past. Subtle but powerful.

The cast definitely plays an important part in this rather sentimental piece with their natural and charming acting. None of the roles are badly played, not even the minor characters.

Dialogues are also well written but very vulgar at times. This is definitely not a film for kids and I guess would probably be classified as M18 or at least NC16 in most countries. Well, there’re a lot of quite detailed “action scenes” on the bed, if you get what I mean.

I really see Doze Niu’s efforts in making the film because everything from the costume to the locations and settings are very well chosen to fit the historical period and depict the lives of the people back then.

This is a very interesting film with a very unique and sensitive topic, however running for more than 2 hours and with a rather heavy and solemn mood, it might get a little overwhelming for some.

However, I enjoyed every minute of the movie and I know many others would too.

I give it a 8.5/10.