- The film follows the last 4 years life of Grandma Hashima, the last existent from colonial Taiwan, who knows the secrets of "Green Jail," the notorious coal mine before World War II in Okinawa, Japan.
- There remains only silence in the "Green Jail," the once upon a time large-scale mining village located on Iriomote Island, Okinawa, Japan. Before World War II, under Greater East Asia Imperialism, "Green Jail" imprisoned thousands of miners. These miners were from Kyushu, and other places of Japan, as well as Japanese colonies: Taiwan and Korea. The miners who were forced to work there, many of whom also contracted and died from malaria. As for the "Taiwanese miners," the morphine injection was prevalent so that they could work nonstop day and night. Grandma Hashima, now 92 years old, is the adopted daughter of the Taiwanese head miner, Yang Tien-fu. With hardly any visitors, grandma lives alone in an old and shaggy wooden house by the "jail on the sea" where her family once lived, she recounts her experience of the coal mine days on the island. What happened in the coal mine? Grandma's adoptive father, who recruited hundreds of Taiwanese miners to "Green Jail," knowing or not they could never return home - Was he an oppressor or the oppressed victim of Japanese Imperialism? Through her memories of guilt, pain, anger, and the miseries of the past 80 years, this film also portrays the last years of Grandma Hashima's life.—Moolin Production
- There remains only silence in the "Green Jail" in Iriomote Island, Okinawa, Japan. Before World War II,"Green Jail" was a large-scale mining village under Greater East Asia Imperialism which imprisoned thousands of miners, who were from Kyushu, Japanese colonies Taiwan and Korea and other places of Japan. Most of the miners were died from malaria or forced to work there. As for "Taiwanese miners", the morphine injection was prevalent so that they could work nonstop day and night.
Grandma Hashima is the adoptive daughter of the head of colonial Taiwanese miners Yang Tien-fu, who experienced the coal mine period in the pre-war. She's already over 90 years old, living alone in an old shaggy wooden house where her family lived, near the "jail on the sea" with the tomb of her parents, and nearly no one visits her since she was brought to this island at 10 years old. Since then, she was teased by people that "your father was bringing people to die there" all the time. With poor education, the only thing Grandma Hashima could do was protect this home. She also know the meaning of being adopted - a child bride of Yang's family. After married to Yang Shu at 16 years old, she became the daughter-in-law to serve the Yangs. However, the non-stop tragedies occurred since the Yangs moved here. What about Grandma's children? She often recalls her lost sons who left the island and never came back. After the war, the family changed their name from Yang to Hashima and became naturalized Japanese so as to give their son legibility to be enrolled in a university in Tokyo. However, her son carried the hope of the entire family to depart for Tokyo but he only called home once and has disappeared for more than 40 years. Grandma Hashima couldn't understand the reasons of her vanished son, and her life which was trapped in the place that people left or died gradually.
The 27-year-old American Luis lived in Grandma Hashima's house through karma. Grandma rented the empty room of her adoptive mother to this Hawaiian. Regarded as outsider on the island, Grandma and Luis started their life as if grandparents and grandchild. They sit in the garden, enjoy the serenity and quiet afternoon. However, Luis reminded Grandma too much things - her unfilial children, their left, and the abandon. She has been saw Luis took the advanture in the coal mines in ruins and brought back the pre-war remains - the evidence of living. He turned on the eletronic music and played the computer game. Grandma became irritated and lied awake all night. Those happiness related to the family and the memories of moving to this island appeared in her mind in a flood. She was just a little girl, and couldn't understand men's business.
The solitude makes Grandma grow older day by day. Sometimes she thinks of trivia 10 years ago; sometimes she recalls how her adoptive father looked like with a lonely silhouette as she was young; sometimes she recalls the days they were teased as "coal mine foreigners"...After the war, the villagers clammed up and no one talks about the coal mine days anymore. "Green Jail," the so-called "Dead Man's Island" has all become ruins that no one goes in. What has happened in the coal mine? Yang Tien-fu has once recruited hundreds of Taiwanese miners to this "Green Jail," making them unable to get back to Taiwan and leave the jail... Is he an assaulter or a victim under Japanese Imperialism? This film portrays the last years of Grandma Hashima's life, with her memory of crime, pain, anger and the miserable history throughout 80 years.
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