Every Lantern Festival in eastern Taiwan, a group of men strips bare above the waist, and wearing nothing but red shorts, stands on a sacred palanquin, allowing people to pound their bodies with bottlerockets, singeing their skin. They are believed to be human incarnations of the god Handan. The “Scorching of Handan” has in recent years become a major event in eastern Taiwan – Taidong. Those who take part in the ritual have always been shrouded in mystery, and rumored to be members of the gangster underworld. The documentary “The Gangster’s God” enters the heart of these men’s universe, recording their dramatic lives.
The film delves deeply into the local underworld community of Taidong. Filmed over the course of a year and ten months, it follows four “brothers”: and organizer of the Handan ritual, and three participants of different ages – born in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s- who all want to stand as a Handan the following years. Their lives are often unstable – during the film, one goes to jail, and another is committed to a psychiatric clinic. Can they successfully stand on the palanquin and serve as human incarnations of the god Handan?
在台東，有一群人，每到元宵節就赤裸上身，只穿著紅短褲，站上神轎，讓人用鞭炮炸自己，炸到皮開肉綻，為自己的過去贖罪。這些人被稱作肉身寒單爺。炸寒單的活動，近年來已成為東台灣的一大盛事，參與儀式的成員，一直被蒙上一層神祕的色彩，傳聞中他們是黑道中人。紀錄片「炸神明」進入寒單爺何新人物的世界，記錄他們戲劇話的人生。本片深入台東地方黑道，拍攝過程歷經一年十個月，追蹤到四個兄弟，分別是儀式的組織者，以及三個不同世代的兄弟，他們各是五、六、七年級的年紀，都想在第二年的元宵節當寒單爺。他們的生活起伏不定，有人在拍攝過程中入獄，有人要進入精神病房。他們可以順利的站上轎子當寒單爺嗎？
這三個道上兄弟，扮演肉身寒單爺，為的是服侍真正的天上神明。他們有的想脫離道上生活，有的正在學習如何進入道上。有的曾經當過殺手，有的現在還做討債的行當。他們都有入獄的記錄，也曾經為非作歹，透過這個儀式，可以看到一個道上小社會裡的法理人情，也能看到不同世代對於民間信仰的價值觀。
本片企圖處理的問題是，通過這個儀式，參與者可以得到什麼？這個民間信仰和台東道上兄弟的社會組織，有什麼關聯？他們站在神轎上當肉身神明的時候，代表的是神聖，還是邪惡？是英雄，還是混混？
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