When it comes to well-known industries in Taiwan, many people’s first impression would be semiconductor, electronics manufacturing, medicine, and machinery industries. However, some percentage of Taiwanese people are working in labor-intensive jobs in construction fields, and specific percentage of workers have been suffering physically and psychologically from long working hours and hazordous working environments with weak occuapation safety measures.
As of 30th of September, 2019, there are 475,467 registered workers in the construction industry.
The writer, 林立青 (Línlì qīng), noticed this situation and wrote this novel to convey the message to the public about the situation these workers are confronting with.
The director, Fen Fen Cheng(鄭芬芬), has done long-term field research about the real life of construction workers and betel nut ladies, and spent two years engaging herself in the construction sites before filmming.
Meanwhile, she adapted some chapters of the novel, and produced this series drama in 2020. What’s more, the movie version has been released since 31st of March, 2023 in Taiwan as well
filmming
The whole movie and series drama are filmmed mostly in real construction sites, up to 20 days and nights.
However, it was, in fact, not easy to find a large construction site and the site was very dangerous, so the crew had been repeatedly searching a location to film. Eventually, it took nearly two months to find a 29-story steel and reinforced concrete construction site in Tainan(台南).
At the same time, the crew received labor safety courses during the pre-production period, and the crew filmed mostly before and after the real workers went to work, as they could not interfere with the actual work on site or delay the progress of the construction work. It was difficult to arrange the radio, camera, and camera positions there. Filming on construction sites was very dangerous and difficult because there were iron bars and nails all over the floor and it was not appropriate to sit on the floor during breaks. Despite this, actors thought this environment is helpful for the actors to immerse into the drama.
Plot
做工的人 has in total 6 episodes.
A middle-aged ironworker from a metalworking family, A-Chi (阿祈), a plate contractor, Chang (昌哥), and an excavator driver, A-Chuan (阿全), are a trio of construction-site stars who spend their days dreaming of making a fortune, but all of them turn out to face financial difficulty. A-Chi (阿祈) have sold health food and invested in claw crane business, but all of them have failed, so A-Chi (阿祈) have many arguments with his wife Mei-Feng (美鳳).
The family of Chang(昌哥), his wife, and their daughter live happily together, but they are forced to move out because of the consequeces of the urban redevelopment.
A-Chuan (阿全) dreams of dating a “goddess” who works as a betel nut lady, but he is not able to fulfill his wish because he has had many bad experiences and has earned less money while losing more money.
A-Qin(阿欽), A-Qi’s younger brother, is a young man who has fallen out of love due to his background of the ironworker family, and has given up himself. He secretly takes drugs to gain more energy and works hard to earn money to support his brother’s family’s financial sitution for years, eventually sacrificing his health. Although he has excellent skills, he is not good at communication, and repeatedly clashes with coworkers at the construction site.
One day, a construction site collapsed and the contractor is seriously injured and sent to the hospital. As three of them are in tightly financial situation, Chang’s wife paid the medical expenses first. Therefore, A-Chi had an idea when he was dining next to the Erawan Buddha Temple. He planned to buy a statue and collect temple incense and oil money after opening the temple. He invited his friend and younger brother A-Qin to become a shareholder, and sought well-known monk in Thailand who was willing to sell the Buddha statue. However, it turned out to be a scam. They had suffered heavy losses and did not feel discouraged. They also bought lottery tickets, recycled resources, and appraised the value of dug urns on live broadcasting channel. A-Chi even mortgaged the land left by his bedridden father, but they couldn’t make them make a fortune.
What’s worse, the father of A-Chi and A-Qin passed away after this incident. Due to numerous years of ironworker career, A-Chi’s health condition also collapsed. For example, his eye vision worsened, his foot hurt. This unabled him to do ironworking anymore. It turns out that he suffers from stroke. He thinks that this disease will last for a long time and this will be the burden for his wife and son, so he lost the faith to live, considering commiting suicide. His brother. A-Qin, acquiesced his decision.
OST – 動力火車 Power Station [ 永遠不再 Long Gone ] Official Music Video(《做工的人》戲劇片尾曲)
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