Was making a great short film wrong? The Taichung City Fire Department recently produced a film titled "Hearing the Call for Help in Mountainous Areas" to raise public awareness about mountain accidents and basic knowledge of outdoor activities. Unexpectedly, hiking officials directly called out the Taichung chief for an explanation, and later the video was even forced to be taken down. Insiders lamented the hard work of their colleagues being erased and angrily exposed the situation online, sparking outrage among netizens who blasted "the officials are overstepping their bounds!"
An anonymous netizen posted on Facebook’s "Exposure Community" that responding to mountain accidents isn’t ordinary rescue work because there are too many uncertainties in the mountains. Rescuers also need to be familiar with mountainous terrain, and often a single mission requires mobilizing a lot of manpower and resources. Although the film was shot in the style of a horror movie, its content is not baseless—it includes statistics, teaches the public how to use location apps, and even shows absurd requests from rescued individuals, such as wanting to eat ginger duck after being saved. It reflects the reality of rescue work.
The original poster pointed out that just because the film’s dialogue included phrases like "9487" (a slang term) and "Climbing Club Can't Make It," which are current slang, some believed it was mocking hikers and thus unacceptable to certain authorities. Many hiking groups also criticized the film harshly, and one hiking official even called out the Taichung chief in a LINE group to explain. The original poster fumed, "I’m a frontline officer, and I feel indignant. When we’re on duty, we leave our families behind. Taichung colleagues made this film in their spare time, but it was suppressed under pressure from officials..."
The original poster stated bluntly, setting aside whether it was approved or not, "This is a film that truly depicts the hardships of rescuers." He believes, "Everyone is making short films. Mountain accidents are terrifying in themselves—not just for those waiting to be rescued, but also for those responding to the call. The hardships are not something outsiders can easily understand, but having a film that shows the reality in an alternative way is not a bad thing. But it was forced to be taken down and couldn’t see the light of day... what a pity!"
After the post went viral, netizens joined the discussion, commenting things like "Why do they need approval in the first place? Does the fire department answer to the hiking committee?" "This is a great film—what gives a certain hiking official the right to demand approval?" "Hiking Committee? Did they show up during rescue missions when people got lost?" "Leaders should stand firm on what’s right. Don’t waver just because a small group voices complaints. This film realistically portrays the actual situation. The public really needs to be educated. Fear is better than ignorance!"
However, some argued, "While I appreciate the creativity, it’s really hard to agree with the exaggerated portrayal of hikers’ attitudes... Won’t this give the impression that public institutions are deliberately demonizing them??" "Using ghost stories to scare the public like this doesn’t help the positive development of Taiwan’s hiking activities. It only deepens the divide between non-hikers and hikers."
Additionally, industry insiders criticized the fire chief, saying, "You said this film cost less than NT$80,000, but look at the long list of experienced crew members in the credits. Just the pre-production alone must have cost more than NT$80,000, let alone the lighting, editing, and music afterward... Please don’t casually talk about low budgets and make others think filmmaking is cheap. You can’t produce this quality for just NT$80,000, okay?" "Who cares about the hiking committee? Good films should stay online. The problem is... other clients will now use this film as an example and say their budget is only NT$80,000, and they want the same quality. What are we supposed to do? I just want to say, please don’t ruin our market rates—we’re already struggling enough..."