Guasha Movie Review

The movie Guasha’s setting is in America. It tells a story about the conflicts arisen by the culture differences between the Chinese an American. Xu Datong, a Chinese immigrant, had made a great success in the field of video game design. One day, Datong’s little son, Denis had a stomachache. The grandfather, who just came to join the family, used Guasha treatment to cure Denis’ stomachache. The treatment made Dennis’ back black and blue, which later became the evidence of child abuse. Datong took all the responsibilities for his father.
Although he tried to explain that Guasha is a traditional Chinese treatment but failed to persuade the judge. He was forced to separate from his wife and son. However, the story had a happy ending. Datong’s boss experienced Guasha and helped the family out of the trouble. At the beginning of the movie, Datong seemed to have realized his American dream, for he had a successful career, a lovely wife and an adorable child. He believed that America was a true land of opportunities and immigrants could become the truly successful Americans by working hard.
However, life is not always full of roses. The American dream broke overnight due to the Guasha treatment to his own child. We can’t tell it is the American or the Chinese that did the wrong things. The cultural differences and local laws shouldn’t be ignored by immigrants. The main line of the movie was the Guasha treatment. The children welfare organization accused Datong of abusing his child. Like other Chinese, Datong took it for granted that Guasha was just an ordinary medical treatment. However, the American didn’t think so.

He tried to defend himself but failed to win the lawsuit. As he didn’t have an effective communication, he failed to persuade the American even his good friend that Guasha was a medical treatment. Later his good friend went to experience Guasha and realized that what he said was true. When he was accused, he failed to learn in advance the American legal system and procedures and did something irrational, which put him into troubles again and again. Also the Chinese “face” culture is shown in the movie, which can’t be understood by the American.
Datong beat Dennis on the head because he didn’t want to say sorry to Paul, son of Datong’s boss. His boss thought kids’ fight was not a big deal. Although he didn’t think his son was wrong, he beat him in front of his boss to show his respect to his boss. His behavior later became the evidence that he was a violent father. Another difference is respecting and caring aged parents. Datong’s boss couldn’t understand why he’d made a scapegoat for his father. Datong’s wife simply relied “because he is a Chinese.
” Datong’s cultural beliefs were so deeply set that it’s impossible for him think about the consequences of telling lies. Cultural differences are bound to be there due to the differences in perspective of philosophy, history, geography, mode of conduct etc. So do as Rome does while in Rome. It’s necessary to have the intercultural awareness, tolerate and adapt to the cultural diversity. Effective communication could be a way to solve the cultural differences. After the communication the world would be more harmony in the future. I think that’s why the hero named Datong in Chinese.