The Sandwich Man (1983 film)

Yang Li-Yin Tsui Fu-Sheng Cho Sheng Li Chiang Hsia The Sandwich Man (Chinese: 兒子的大玩偶; pinyin: Erzi de da wan'ou) is a 1983 Taiwanese film.

It depicts a fresh young salesman's disillusionment with the fairytale of modernization, when one of the Japanese pressure cookers he tried to sell to villagers accidentally exploded during a demonstration and critically wounded his colleague.

One day Kun Shu discovered the irony of the job and his life: his son only recognizes him when he is in his working costume, that is, the sandwich man.

Wang Wuxiong took the shitty job because he needed to leave home while his colleague Lin Zai-fa was hoping to earn more bonus money for his pregnant wife.

Seeing his wounded colleague fighting for his life in the hospital and knowing that his pregnant wife just sent a letter asking him to take a break to come home because she is worried about having a miscarriage, Wang cannot resist his anger and frustration but to tear the poster of the pressure cooker on the wall into pieces and throw them on the sea.

[3] Riding his bike to go to work early in the morning in Taipei City, Jiang Afa, a laborer who has five children including one dumb girl, was hit by a car driven by Colonel Gray, an officer of the U.S. Marine Corps stationed in Taiwan.

Not only did the colonel take full responsibility and promised to cover all the medical expenses but also gave him 50 thousand NT dollars and offered to take the dumb girl to the US for better education.

The directors of The Sandwich Man have transformed the limitation of low budget (e.g., single-camera operation and non-professional actors) into a refreshingly new realistic style.

Fortunately, Yang Shiqi (楊士琪), a reporter from the United Daily News, had the courage to condemn this censorship intent and successfully rallied the public's support to not only keep the film intact as director Wan Jen wanted it to be and also paved the way for later films of the Taiwan New Cinema to have greater creative freedom to realistically address social issues.