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Blind Major 
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TITLE |
Fly
me to Polaris (1999) |
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A young man
nicknamed Onion, (Richie Chen, a pop star |
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from Taiwan)
lost his sight and speech as a young boy. He |
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explains his
history in a voice over, as we are introduced to |
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his living
quarters and way of life in a hospital where he is |
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employed as
a typist. He is well established in his |
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surroundings
and knows all the staff. He is especially friendly |
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with a nurse
Autumn (Cecilia Chan) who cuts his hair and |
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spends time
with him. Their communication is shown to be |
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easy with
Onion using gesture, writing and signs. He also |
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plays
saxophone very well and secretly serenades her with |
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the
instrument when she is stressed. He denies that he is the |
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saxophonist
preferring to keep his amorous feelings quiet, |
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feeling that
he is unlikely to be able to take the relationship |
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After an
evening spent together making wishes on stars, |
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Onion is so
happy that he dances through the hospital |
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grounds only
to trip and fall into the road and be hit by a car |
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His spirit
goes to a heavenly sorting centre, reminiscent of |
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Heaven Can
Wait. He asks to go back and is told by the be- |
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suited
"angel" that he can only go back for 5 days and that he |
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will be
unrecognisable and unable to tell anyone who he is. |
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So he finds
himself returned to the hospital able to see and |
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speak and
attends his own funeral. It is clear that Autumn is |
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heart broken
and regrets bitterly not expressing her love to |
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In order to
have a premise to talk to Autumn, Onion decides to pretend to
be Cheung, an insurance adjuster, settling Onion's life
insurance,. However, he inadvertently offends her with questions
about Onions's death. As he panics, he decides to explain to
her who he is but instantly suffers a fit. |
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Disheartened
he decides to both write and tape the whole story and sets off to find
her at her sister's house. Whilst he
is there, a doctor from the hospital, who has been
unsuccessful in asking Autumn out, also turns up. He is very
protective of Autumn and feels that Cheung is harassing her.
Onion tries to explain but again has a fit. The doctor insists
on taking Onion back to town. He returns to the sister's house
to find that Autumn has found his letter illegible and the tape
blank.
He returns to the hospital and decides on one last ploy. He
tells Autumn that he has Onions diaries and that he should
read them to her as they are in Braille, which he can read.
They meet in a cafe and he pretends to read the notes, giving
details of their past encounters and how he felt about them,
thus allowing him to express his love for her. She becomes
so upset that she leaves. By this time, Onion is regretting his
return and decided to help the doctor to start a relationship
with Autumn so that she can start her life again.
Autumn hears the beautiful saxophone playing again and
rushes out to find the doctor playing, she starts to feel that he
may be the right person for her. However, the doctor has a
guilty conscience and tells her that the real player was in fact
Cheung.
Autumn thinks about all the strange things that have happened with
Cheung and goes to Onion's room where she find his hidden box
containing the saxophone and the diary which she finds to be empty.
She now realises that Cheung must be a reincarnation of Onion and
seeks him out.
They only have a short time together to express their love for
each other and to watch a meteor storm together which is
what Autumn had previously wished for. Onion then floats
away into the stars.
Comments.
Apparently this Chinese version of Heaven Can Wait was
considered a real weepy in its native country. However, to my
(Western) eyes, it seemed rather simple and nanve; not
necessarily bad qualities.
I thought the disability was acted quite well but losing your
sight through an accident and your speech through a fever on
the same day is unrealistically unlucky. I enjoyed the fact that the
disabled character was portrayed as happy, well adjusted and an active
part of a number of relationships.
I liked the way that when Onion returned as Cheung, he showed traits
of his past disability by, for instance, dialling the telephone by
touch without looking.
As always with films involving disability, I ask why did the script
use a disabled character and often as in this case, I really have no
idea.
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Notes
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