The film too shows us the fate of Li Tien-lu's family many of whom lost their lives over the period. Li Tien-lu -- who actually appears in the film as himself in interviews interspersed throughout the narrative -- survived the occupation and the war because he kept quiet, did his job and held steadfast to the things he believed in. In this way the film is a both a testament to one person and to the people of Taiwan who survived the occupation.

Besides its historical significance The Puppetmaster is one of the great films from an artistic standpoint because the pacing, elliptical editing and the exquisite framing of each shot. The framing is particularly important because Hsiao-hsien frames the main characters and the events of the movie from a distance. In this way he is commenting on the lives of the people who – much like he puppets used in the theatre – are controlled by an outside force: In this case the Japanese and the fate of history.

Director Hsiao-hsien uses elliptical editing to remarkable effect to tell the story. He doesn't give us all the details in an obvious or clumsy manner. Instead we see one scene slowly unfold followed by another and – even though they seem enigmatic - we eventually are able to fill in the blanks. It's a style of cinema we rarely see in Hollywood where a form of movie dictatorship often takes hold and tells us how to think about each scene. Hsiao-hsien lets us participate and thus – if we are attuned to what is happening – we become more involved.

It's a tragic film but a quiet and a still one as well. At times it seems to exist as a photograph does on a bureau waiting for someone to curiously pick it up and ask questions. Due to the complexity of The Puppetmaster it behooves one to view it more than once especially if you want to glean all of its meaning as well as get used to it slow pace. It's worth mentioning too that the film has a good number of expertly crafted puppet performances that buoy the story along nicely.

The Video:
Unfortunately, this is where the DVD falters. The film was shot anamorphic 1:85 to 1 but it is presented 1:33 to 1. Nobody would ever think of taking edits out of Eisenstein's Potempkin and just as surely no one would take away the color from Vertigo - yet not much thought is given to changing a Hou Hsiao-hsien film by formatting it to fit on a full size TV screen. Doing that not only defaces the image but it unfortunately takes away a bit of the artist's intent. Hsiao-hsien is a master at framing a scene and, in his films, the framing is a primary device in telling the story. He is one of the few filmmakers today who so completely combines form and content - both of which comment upon each other. This DVD pretty much defeats his storytelling method since everything and every person he frames is closer to the screen than they should be. I should note that according to sources at Fox Lorbor / Winstar this is not their fault since this was the only print made available to them from China. It's a shame because it is truly a film that needs to be seen in its proper aspect ratio. The print as it is looks okay. There are numerous splotches and scratches throughout the image and there is noticeable artifact. Noticeable mainly because Hsiao-hsien holds shots upwards of two minutes and with that kind of time it's easy to look around the frame and see everything including scratches in the print.

The Audio:
The audio is presented 2.0 in Mandarin and Chinese. It sounds is generally quiet anyway and since it is not a dolby digital type of film then the sound is fine. I would say this is the best aspect of the disc since there is little noise at all.

The Extras:
There is very little here but it is useful. First is a filmography of the director and four of the films stars. Then there is an illustrated Li Family Tree so that we can figure out each of the 13 main characters and their relation to one another. There is also a Traditional Puppet Roles page, which includes a list of the various types of puppet characters shown in the film. The film has been studied and written about in many forums (including the internet) and it wouldn't have hurt if Winstar could have managed to have an interview with a film historian to talk about the significance of the film and the director. However, the disc does include a good number of web links via DVD Rom capability that are of interest. Lastly there is also a trailer for Flowers of Shanghai, which is also available (and looks much better than this Disc) from Fox Lorber. The subtitles are yellow and can be removed and there are 16 chapters to choose from.

Overall:
If you're a fan of this film there is no doubt you will be frustrated by the full frame presentation. However, despite this, the framing is still decent enough and the pacing is just as involving. If you've never seen the film this may be the only chance you get because the print only gets around once ever five years or so and bootleg videos are few and far between.