Invisible Nation review — a tour de force documentary about Taiwan

Stay informed with free updates

Simply sign up to the Film myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.

The next wave of reports about Chinese aggression against Taiwan is upon us: when Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te returns from his first overseas trip in office this Friday, Beijing is expected to unleash another big military exercise around his country, which it claims as its own and vows to bring under its control.

But this time, a global audience can see and hear Taiwan’s own story via Invisible Nation, a tour de force through the country’s democracy, history, social and economic achievements and international isolation.

If there is one recurring message in Vanessa Hope’s documentary, it is that “Taiwan exists”, as Tsai Ing-wen, president until May this year, says, and Taiwanese politicians, voters, activists and scholars repeat it time and again throughout the 85-minute film. The need to emphasise this to the global public is evident to those who know the country well: China’s decades-long efforts to deny Taiwan international recognition and participation and to prohibit it from being called by its own name have rendered it practically invisible and left many other countries ignorant about it.

Hope’s film can help change that. But she demands a lot of her viewers. The documentary works through three different storylines: Taiwan’s peaceful transition from a military dictatorship to one of Asia’s freest democracies, its complex history of multiple colonisations during which a China-based government only ever ruled the entire island for a brief four years, and the international community’s failure to embrace it despite shared values and Taiwan’s will to contribute.

Those themes are threaded together without narration, but through a dense sequence of clips from interviews with close to 30 people.

Tsai’s own story as Taiwan’s first female president provides an anchor of sorts. Over the course of her two terms, she gave Hope unprecedented access. In formal interviews, she lays out the importance of Taiwan’s survival for the future of democracy in her trademark cautious, composed manner. In informal chats at her residence, interrupted by her many cats and dogs, Tsai’s quiet humour shines through. Archival footage from her time as a trade negotiator and China policy head highlights her outsized role in shaping today’s Taiwan.

But what really help capture viewers’ attention are the many long shots of Taiwan’s stunning mountains and coastline, footage of its colourful election rallies, temples and night markets and warm, thoughtful people. Together with Wei-San Hsu’s ethereal music, they weave a rich, emotional tapestry.

★★★★☆

Streaming in the UK and US December 6-9; invisiblenation.net