In this paper, I described the relationship between modern family and the Nation State during the colonial and war period through the films of Hou Hsiao-hsien, “The Puppetmaster” and “A City of Sadness”. Family is also the unit that forms the economic foundation of the state, but in wartime it is a unit of conscription, and under dictatorship it is also a unit of national control. In the history of East Asia in the 20th century, the country and its family were in a confrontational relationship. Perhaps the reason why Hou Hsiao-hsien’s films feature many families is because he likes to capture the images of ordinary Taiwanese in movies. The two movies “A City of Sadness” and “The Puppetmaster” that cover the historical transformation of Taiwan are also works of a natural human life that is completely raw or unpainted. Li Tien-lu, the main character of “The Puppetmaster”, was a thoroughly peripheral human being. Even in colonial Taiwan, which was dominated by Japanese imperialism, he was a man who had been pushed out of the hierarchy of political and patriarchal powers, but he loved his family and fulfilled his responsibilities as a father. “A City of Sadness” tells the story of a family destroyed by state violence, using sophisticated aesthetic devices. I considered photography and sound and family dinner as a metaphor, and analyzed its meaning. The last scene of the family dinner was very significant, which I saw as a message that in the end the ultimate winner of the fight against the state was the family.