I’ll admit that prior to watching Detention, I was unfamiliar with Taiwan’s “White Terror Period,” during which the repressive Kuomintang (KMT) authorities executed or imprisoned anyone they labeled a communist sympathizer while inflicting martial law that lasted decades. Yet, the narrative’s plea to remember the past and to live feels so, so relevant,  considering the challenges democracy faces globally.

Based on a video game, surprisingly, and directed by John Hsu, the film centers on good-looking teenager Wei (Jing-Hua Tseng), who befriends Fang (Gingle Wang), another student at Greenwood High School in the early 1960s. Wei is part of a secret club that meets in a storage room to pass around and discuss illicit literature, including communist writings and the works of Indian poet Tagore. The group is led by dissident teachers Miss Yin (Cecilia Choi) and Mr. Chang (Meng-Po Fu). This group of young people passionately discusses the books, all while putting their lives in danger, under the eye of Inspector Bai (Hung Chang Chu), who tortures any subversives.

These early scenes about a secret book club set the tone of a historical drama, but that changes abruptly when Fang and Wei wake to a hellish nighttime scenario where gargantuan monsters with KMT caps and mirrored faces pick off their fellow students and teachers one by one. The expressionist landscape is a major shift and sets a spooky, Gothic tone with swinging lightbulbs and monsters and ghosts that lurk behind every corner. The change in tone plunges us into a world where dissent is easily crushed and the consequences of reading certain books are torture or death.

Gradually, through flashbacks, a clearer picture develops of what occurred. This includes Fang’s troubled home life, her relationship to Mr. Chang, the book club’s betrayal, and eventually the reveal of who’s doing the dreaming. The fog of historical trauma lifts, as ghosts plea with Wei to live, while also remembering and acknowledging the past.

Though it’s never quite scary, and while its allegory is blunt, Detention is engrossing and absorbing, especially in its third act. The film also feels painfully relevant because we’re living in a period in which democracies continue to crumble globally. Hungary, Poland, Brazil, the Philippines, and Hong Kong are recent examples. Even in the U.S., it’s teetering. Local school board meetings, meanwhile, have become ground zero for culture wars over “critical race theory.” Just two hours from me, Central York made national headlines after banning books about Rosa Parks and MLK. Fortunately, the Pennsylvania school board reversed the decision after an outcry.

As an educator, Detention resonated with me, especially the scenes of the book club meeting in private and teachers risking their lives to share banned books. Some elements of the film that feel more like a video game don’t always work. That said, Detention is a powerful reminder to remember the historical traumas of the past, lest they repeat in the present. It uses an expressionist setting to summon ghosts who plead with the flesh and blood characters to live and acknowledge the past. Don’t take freedom for granted these ghosts remind us. It’s a message we should all heed.

9 Out of 10 Banned Books