BUDDHA BLESS AMERICA

Once upon a time in the 1960s, the US Army holds field exercises near a mining village in Taiwan. An unemployed local schoolteacher, nicknamed Brain, gets an idea: Yankee dollars and know-how will rain down from heaven upon any native community that cooperates with the 'friendly' foreign visitors, and upon Brain's recommendation the town welcomes in the troops. Brain particularly hopes his display of international goodwill will allow a dicey American surgical procedure that can restore his brother's crippled hand. But Brain's brainstorm turns out to be a Faustian bargain, as tank treads ravage the landscape, G.I.s ravish the girls, and an overnight black market in stolen goods turns the district's economy upside-down. Part gentle comedy, part biting satire, BUDDHA BLESS AMERICA is based on a true story, says director Wu Nien-jen, but don't let the historical milieu disarm you; this story of botched opportunism and superpower bungling could well happen today, anywhere the statement “We're the United States – we're here to help” sounds oxymoronic. In English, and Taiwanes and Mandarin with English subtitles. – Charles Cassady