望鄉 · 1997

Homesick Eyes

Hsu Hsiao-Ming · 85 min · Taiwan

Free market capitalism has not only effected the flow of capital but also the global migration of labor. Laborers cross national borders to “developed” or “developing” countries and take on low-paying job in the service sector. The growing number of international laborers and new immigrants, usually of various nations and ethnicity, has now begun to have certain impact on the host society. For example, in Taiwan, the lure if high income might subject them to the employer’s exploitations. And policy makers and employers rarely take into account their sense of displacement.