I watched this thru HBO Red Channel in 2012. After watching the whole movie I concluded that this movie is a masterpiece.
This movie tackles about the then unrest years in mainland China wc the government needed compulsory soldiers to fight with the civil war. As the story went on, the patriarch who is the good baker went to Taiwan to avoid the longer time in military. In this time, since he hadntjis problem with the government he couldnt go back to the family in MC so he stayed in Taiwan for many years, got married to another wife and got a daughter named JiaYi.

There were so many good scenes in the movie and I couldn't recall anymore but most of all I love the ending scene wherein the father came back to his hometown in China where he saw his wife, his son wc is little Jiawan and and the whole family (mother, father, sisters, as in all his family waiting for him in their front yard) If you watch closely as if everyone is real but it his spirit that just returned to. He died without being able to return to their house and without the chance to be able to see his family.

This is a nth degree tear jerker movie. The father didn't want to abandon his wife but forced to join the military. He couldnt back home to mainland China since there was political rift between China and Taiwan and his visa problem. The son and the daughter understood the situation better after so many times of disagreements and fighting.

I love this movie coz it reminds me of my mother's family's situation and experience. This is about family and how should we value our family.