Experience this epic tale of a youth baseball team that inspired two nations
For the many baseball fans in Taiwan, the wait is almost over. On Feb. 27, "Kano" will finally hit movie theaters, giving viewers a glimpse into the history of Taiwan while exploring how baseball became the country's favorite sport. Directed by Ma Chih-hsiang, who also goes by his tribal name Umin Boya, the film tells the true underdog story of a Taiwanese youth baseball team that traveled to Japan to compete there in 1931, when Taiwan was a colony of Japan.
Named after the Japanese-language abbreviation for Chiayi Agriculture and Forestry Public School, "Kano" depicts the exploits of the school's baseball team, which was made up of Japanese children and Taiwanese players of both Han Chinese and indigenous descent. The film shows their rigorous training regimen in Taiwan and how they overcame the odds to reach the Koshien tournament, Japan's most prestigious high school baseball competition at the time. Ma said he hopes the film will help bring back memories of the "glorious era" of Taiwanese baseball.
The dialogue in this three-hour movie is predominantly in Japanese, while the production contains over 2,000 special effects shots. The film has drawn a lot of attention because of one of its producers, Wei Te-sheng, who directed the blockbuster film "Cape No. 7" as well as the two-part epic "Seediq Bale," which like "Kano" was also set in the colonial era.
The film stars veteran Japanese actor Masatoshi Nagase, who was praised by the movie's director for his gripping performance. "Nagase is a great actor. Sometimes I couldn't bear to say 'cut,'" Ma told reporters in an interview. Wei also commended Nagase for his superb acting and said the actor would often read historical documents to immerse himself in his character Hyotaro Kondo, the strict Japanese coach of Taiwan's first baseball team.
Nagase, who visited Taiwan recently to do some additional voice performing for the film, said at first he hesitated to join the cast due to other work engagements back home, but was eventually moved by the film's "powerful" story and characters. To get to know more about his character, Nagase said he even sought out one of Kondo's former students — who is now over 80 years of age — to ask him what the coach was like. The former student told him that Kondo was a stern coach but also cared about team members' daily lives.
資料來源：http://www.chinapost.com.tw/guidepost/topics/default.asp?id=4199&pre=1&sub=24
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