Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (2011)
Directed by: Te-Sheng Wei
In 1895, Taiwan was taken over by the Empire of Japan. Thirty five years later, the Seediq aboriginal people are in a semi-subservient condition, regarded as savages by their Japanese masters, who view Seediq traditions (which include headhunting) as barbaric. Chief Mona Rudao appears to have accepted this state of affairs, but when a Japanese policeman insults his clan at a wedding, Mona leads a loose coalition of clans in a brief, bloody rebellion.
Based on the Wushu Incident of 1930, Seediq Bale is Taiwan’s biggest movie to date, apparently using a cast and crew of 15,000.
Director Te-Sheng Wei has asked western audiences to avoid applying their own cultural values in judging the movie and, if that were possible, it might be a good idea. This is an extremely bloodthirsty film, with more beheadings than any other movie I can name, and scenes of carnage for most of its two and a half hour running time.
The story does not like complexity – the Japanese are almost universally portrayed as strutting hiss-boo villains or as hapless cannon fodder, while the Seediq, even those who side with the invaders, are depicted as noble and brave. They are also preternaturally lucky, as in the case of the Seediq child who charges through jungle and village with a machine-gun nearly his own size, killing what seems like a regiment of Japanese soldiers.
Te-Sheng Wei depicts a series of cleverly organised ambushes by the Seediq, but his use of special effects is less successful, and their phoniness tends to alienate the viewer.
But it’s the challenge of accepting the heroes’ level of brutality (including to themselves, in the form of mass suicides) that will, I suspect, prove most difficult to a mainstream audience in the west, in spite of the director’s admonitions.
Hi, I’m a viewer from Taiwan. Headhunting was considered as a way to worship their god, and by doing so, warriors get to prove their bravery and earn their ticket to heaven, where their ancestors are. The movie isn’t about killing and being killed, it’s about the meanings lied within, Seediq decided to fight back because of Japanese invasion to their lands, the loss of freedom and their disrespect to their traditions, you might find it hard to understand, just consider it to be our version of American war of independence. The headhunting was a way to cleanse both their enemies and their souls and let out their anger, but unfortunately, you can’t see that part in the international version you watched, so to you, it’s just another barbaric, bloodthirsty movie. It really is a great movie, I’m not an aborigine myself, but it reminds us of the time we were once ruled by another country. I hope you’ll get to view the version we have in Taiwan, cause it’ll touch you heart, guaranteed!!
Thanks for your comment, Gina. I watched the movie at TIFF earlier this year and, before the movie began, its director, Te-Sheng Wei, stood up to introduce the film. He made many of the same points that you do and, overall, I think the audience appreciated the movie. I certainly found much to admire, though I felt it was rather dated in its largely unshaded depiction of the merits of the two sides. However, I would love to see other (original?) version of the movie that you mention.
I just come from seeing the original version in Taiwan, which is split in two separate movies of around two hours each. After reading a lot about the international “short” version, I was expecting a long time of indiscriminate killing action with no much storytelling. I am so glad that this expectation proved to be wrong. Either my taste in movies is very much different than that of many reviewers, or the international version’s editing plain sucks. My guess is the latter. For sure there is much fighting and beheading to be seen, but the character building and storytelling takes quite a bit of time, too. Maybe more than half even? It was a very intense and moving experience for sure. And in several scenes someJapanese were depicted pretty humane, and some even “good”. That aside: yes, a bit of the CGI was either over the top, or crappy animation. I would have hoped that they got that bit better, but it didn’t distract me much. Unfortunately, since the english subtitle version is not shown in most cinemas here, I saw it in a very small place with pretty crappy sound. I would rate it a must see movie, and I hope the full length version will be made available internationally. If they really cut the movie so that mostly brainless action remains (I have seen it compared to “300” even), then this doesn’t do that movie justice.
A very powerful story indeed, and interestingly enough it has been told a few years before already: on a concept album of the Taiwanese death metal band Chthonic, also named Seediq Bale, which even had some international success.
On another side note: the story of the Sediq could be continued, with the kids of the survivors of the Wushe incident being forced to fight for the Japanese in world war two (Takasago Army). The very last Japanese holdout for example, giving himself up in 1974, was a native Taiwanese of the Amis tribe. And the survivors of that war saw their homelands getting taken over by yet another foreign power when the Chinese nationalist army was designated by the Allies to occupy Taiwan. And losing the Chinese civil war to the communists, they completely moved there, ruling Taiwan with an iron fist until the very recent democratic “revolution”. Some Taiwanese, including those Seediq and other native veterans, resisted, and were finally slaughtered – around Puli – not too far from where the movies were set. Some info on those events can be found on that band’s basssist’s page: http://zh-tw.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=228039680568179