"Yu Ming is Anim Dom" ("Yu Ming is my Name") is an extremely clever short film that speaks volumes with a very simple, straightforward narrative. The film follows young Yu Ming, a young Chinese man, who is bored with his life working in shop for his family. A dreamer, he randomly picks a spot on a spinning globe to move to and comes up with Ireland. Checking out a book in the library, he learns all he can about Ireland and sees that Gaelic is their official language. Yu Ming then sets out to teach himself the language. Upon moving to Dublin, Yu Ming finds that no one can understand him. Because of this he feels as though he is not speaking it correctly and does not understand that most of the people can only speak English and they mistakenly think he's speaking Chinese. Although comical, it is sad at the same time and shows an outsider more interested and knowledgeable in the Irish culture than the natives themselves. It shows a loss of cultural identity that may or may not be reversable after so many years. I have to say that the film inspired me to learn more about Gaelic as well: GJUNG is Anam Dom. : )
Review of Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom
