A Taiwan blockbuster

Blood-stained rainbow

A new film highlights the island’s aborigines

Sep 17th 2011 | TAIPEI| from the print edition

The End

A FILM that depicts Taiwan’s half-century of Japanese colonial rule from the point of view of a fierce tribe of indigenous headhunters is generating a surge of national pride on the island. “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale” was surrounded by buzz at this year’s Venice Film Festival. But that was nothing compared with its reception in Taiwan since opening on September 9th.

Made by an acclaimed Taiwanese director, Wei Te-sheng, with John Woo, a Hollywood force, as producer, the film has already broken records. At a cost of $25m, it is the mostexpensive Taiwanese film ever made. The opening-day takings of NT$23m ($790,000), for the first of what will be two instalments, were the highest ever for a Taiwanese film. More box-office records are bound to follow.

Quite probably “Warriors of the Rainbow” also has the highest number of graphic beheadings of any film anywhere. But they are faithful historical depictions. In 1930 hundreds of Taiwan’s Seediq people living in the central uplands, oppressed and exploited by the Japanese and believing their culture was being destroyed, revolted against their overlords with scant hope of success. They first attacked a school athletics gathering, slaughtering over 100 Japanese, and then raided police outposts. The uprising, known as the Wushe incident, triggered a brutal Japanese response, including poison gas dropped from aircraft. The rebellion’s leader, Mouna Rudao, is still seen as a folk hero by many Taiwanese.

The film emphasises the Seediq belief that only warriors with hands bloodied by slaughter can qualify for the afterlife (reached across a rainbow bridge). Its violence is disturbing in the extreme. One aboriginal boy in his early teens leads children to knife both their Japanese teacher and cowering women. (Later in the Wushe incident, though not depicted in this instalment, Japanese-led punitive forces indulge in a beheading orgy of their own.)

“Warriors of the Rainbow” is the first mainstream Taiwanese film to focus on Taiwan’s aboriginals. Numbering about 500,000 out of a population of 23m, Taiwan’s aborigines are descendants of Austronesians who first came to the island as long as 12,000 years ago. Han Chinese immigration started in earnest in the 17th century, beginning the long marginalisation of indigenous groups. Not all aboriginal groups saw the Japanese as their chief oppressors. Many sided with them against the Seediq, and many more fought for the Japanese in South-East Asia, a fact of which their descendants remain proud. Mouna Rudao himself was for the Japanese, before he was against them.

The film, at least in the first instalment, glosses over such ambivalence. Its message of a unique, empowering Taiwanese identity is unmistakable, and the main reason for its popularity. No Chinese is spoken in the film. Rather, only Seediq and Japanese are used, with Chinese subtitles. Both Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, and Tsai Ing-wen, his challenger in next year’s election, set aside their sniping to sit down to a screening together.

Taiwan has never seen anything like it. The central bank has plans to release a set of coins commemorating the Seediq. The film sets have become a tourist attraction. There are Seediq Bale commemorative wines and ionised water. Han Taiwanese as well as indigenous filmgoers don aboriginal dress for the viewing. As for China, those critics who have seen the film have noted its “provincialism”, a slur that mainlanders usually reserve for Taiwan’s independence movement.

from the print edition | Asia

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Blood-stained rainbow

Sep 19th 2011, 01:44

This film is made by the indigenous director Wei Te-Sheng, who also famously product “Cape No.7” in 2008’s winter. Wei is good at picturing Taiwanese history, including culture and mutual sensation in this island. About near the second millenium and from his youth, he tried very hard to image film which can tell Taiwan’s lost memory or continuously search for Taiwanese roots from Taiwan island to the whole world. At the beginning, he loaned NTD 2 million starting his his dream. In 2008, “Cape No.7”, which set the Hunchun in Pingtung as the story’s background, was not only highly praised by Taiwanese but also welcomed in mainland China through the courage of Bejing’s Taiwanese Affair Office. I know him after the first-playing “Cape No. 7” and once chatted with him by listening to his formidable work from his college life in Yuan-Don Technology University. He kindly talked with me saying he had been preparing more plans seen as new challenges and constantly learning more lessons from the older in movie circle such as Chung Yao,Wu Nian-Zen and Pung Chia-Chia.

Now we can see this “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale” , having been prepared for at least 12 years, as the express of the emotional soul and “heroism” different from the past historic “documentary”. The following link is about Wei’s process of making this film and the talk of supportng Wu Yu-Sen (John Wu) and others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6qQq1yzVOQ&feature=player_embedded

In Taiwan, the books or the posts relative to this film are appearent in most bookstores and e-shops. I take this train in time by reserving original soundtrack product by Singaporean Ho Te-Jie (Ricky Ho) on eslite.com although I don’t like the main actress (ha, I don’t want to say why). In this movie, Wei uses the clearer scenarios rather than the past movie’s sentences. Meanwhile, he depicts the conflict between Japanese rulers who followed the high civilization and the oppressed who still lived traditionally as ancestors by means of the non-discrimination and non-biased construction which can lead all the audiences to the better recognition of the whole incident from the far to the near. Besides, the little stories among this incident sometimes inspires the advance of the bigger scenarios, also delighting the story’s main roles.

The similar films or activities of Wushe incident have been made in various way. Mouna Rudao, the rebellion’s leader of Wushe incident, was arranged into one of figures among the list of Taiwans history. His head picture was designed in memorial coin several years ago. In reality, the rest of the Mouna Rudao’s race escaped to Taoyuan until now. The colonial Taiwanese history had been always negatively taught in school for at least 50 years. But near 2000, Taiwan measured all the 400-year island history by the absolute “score” of the donation rather than what kind of the race. In my words, what I usually use is that no matter what nation rules, they (or we) should respect all Taiwanese. It has been a long time that Taiwanese had complex emotion toward cross-strait relation and the position of the world. Many Taiwan’s inhabitants still misunderstand the location of Chinese central government regarding Taipei as the only capital in China.

In general, Taiwanese-made film’s qualify isnt good and fewer and fewer film come up with audience’s expectations. Last year Mun-Jia (Wan-Hua phonetic in Taiwanese), arguably played in Taiwan, was criticized for lack of surveying the background. Moreover, Mun-Jia expressed very ambiguous image and many audiences just saw this as a naughty show of noise.

I have recently seen many commentators like New Conversative. The only thought they have is to deal with the action and say this like that. Just watch this movie and try joining in this story, and get this idea that the oppressor whoever he is might face the resistance to the oppressed.

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今天是農曆除夕，寫到這篇的舊事回顧海角七號(不是海賊七)，格外溫暖。畢業於遠東工專的魏德聖，借了兩百萬開始自己創作生涯。瓊瑤，吳念真和澎恰恰都是他的先輩。賽德克巴萊，賽德克Seediq是「人」的意思，而巴萊Bale是「真正」的意思，分上集「太陽旗」，下集「彩虹橋」，描寫1930年莫那魯道抗日的英勇。拿誠品網路書店的連結來說明吳宇森的支持及12年的籌備，筆者附帶提到新加坡音樂人何國杰的電影配樂。筆者也有收藏一份電影原聲帶。對劇照反帝國主義，反殖民主義久久不能忘懷。

「In reality, the rest of the Mouna Rudao’s race escaped to Taoyuan until now. 」用「race」 不太對，應該是用「descendants」或「pedigree」會恰當些。這個中式英語的問題以後就有注意到，應避免。

台灣這個本土電影的風潮吹到中國北京，並沒有被說是「台獨」或「呆胞愚夫」，北京國台辦副主任還特別開記者會說會以行政機器協助在院線加強鋪貨，視為內地製優質片處理。一年半前稍微低俗的「艋舺」引起一陣熱議，以多方面喚醒對土地的認同。這些改編的「新紀錄片」，加上後製及花邊小絮，著實讓台灣影片製作升了一次級，配合這幾年各式製片光電技術的發明，給予轉型的契機。