Warriors of the Rainbow

One of Taiwan's biggest ever films today, probably the most expensive ever made and looks set to be the highest earning to date. The story of Seediq Bale, based on the Wushe Incident is split into two segments, the first being entitled The Sun Flag (tai-yang qi) and the second, The Rainbow Bridge (cai-hong qiao). Seediq Bale is the best looking Taiwanese production to date, it seems on par with the majority of action films coming straight out of Hollywood. The battle scenes are impressive, they're fast paced with a lot of of excitement and thrills, there's explosions, blood splatters and much like you'd expect from headhunters, there's a few heads rolling.

Story: The story moves quickly despite the movie being close to 2 and a half hours long. There is a small bit of background and lead up to the Japanese arriving but not a great deal. When the Japanese arrive it also doesn't seem that much happens in the story, it doesn't give you complex characters or anything you must grasp or understand. It's a simple story but flows well and entertains.

Characters: Character building and general development is a problem in this movie, although it is entertaining with no boredom from start to finish it doesn't have much depth to it. You must take the characters on face value as you don't really get a sense of who they are. There is one character who can be classed as the lead but you even don't get to know who he is. Throughout the movie you're introduced to numerous characters, both on the aboriginal side and the Japanese side, yet you don't get to know more than the basics of who they are.

Directing: Te-Sheng Wei has previous had a bit hit in Taiwan with Cape No.7 which guaranteed him the funding for this movie. But still his style is not flawless, at times he comes across as still being an amateur with some very strange shots and some even more bizarre cuts. More than one scene had him building up, suspense and emotion was all there and then he suddenly cuts to something completely different. It kills the feeling but also provides a kind of shock.

Also its probably worth having a little background on headhunting traditions before watching this film, without understanding about their culture at times you might just find yourself rooting for the Japanese side.

Overall: I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, sure it could've been better but at the same time it could've been a lot worse. It's receiving a lot of praise in Taiwan with this movie smashing records and the follow up looking set to break even more. One things for sure, I'll be booking my tickets for the second instalment.

well, for whom doesn't have time to read my full review, let's say that if you loved both LAST OF THE MOHICANS and APOCALYPTO,then i'm pretty sure you will love this movie. This is a great movie about war strategy, tribes, honor,hope.Off course there is a plenty scene of blood because it is war, but the bloody effect is not so over than Spartacus TV series. Points of view of several scene are great, many aerial, of camera-handed run... No doubt, it is a modern war movie. if you got boring during Narnia or Lord of Rings, then you will get what you want here. There is mass-fighting scene, uncut real fight, very captivating. i did not give the max evaluation because women in the movie, are very 'platonic', linear role and 'too much respected' (which was not during a real war). I guess the director wanted to keep a part of his audience (and not sexual scene either of course).

An excellent movie: historical, good action, realistic, in the beautiful nature of the Republic of China, where one learns the raw violence of the eastern races, greater than that of the West.

If you are looking for an epic sized film look no further than the Asian film market. They have cornered the market on delivering huge scale movies on a regular basis like no other. Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale is not only an epic film it is the most expensive film to ever come out of Taiwan. Produced by John Woo, the film was originally released in Taiwan as two films running at over 4 and a half hours, but released in a single US version at about 2 and a half hours. Can this much be trimmed from a movie a still work clearly enough to keep the film's epic story in-tact and capture audiences? Warriors of the Rainbow is based on the 20th Century history of two warring tribes that not only clashed over the land they inhabited, but also a bigger war against the Japanese as they begin to colonize the island and wipe them out. Forging an alliance with the other tribes, they took the Japanese by surprise only to have to face an unstoppable force as they are attacked by aircraft and poison gas. This is not only a truly epic film; it is one that will leave you with some sort of emotional response. Whether its sadness, anger, or just awe, you cannot walk away from this movie without it affecting you in some way. This is an extremely violent and graphic movie, but is necessary to really convey this little known time in Taiwan history. At first this film feels a bit like Apocalypto then takes a turn to something like Last of the Mohicans, but with a way more violent and deep emotional story. It's hard to believe the amount of action that is crammed into this film and still have such a powerful story. This is a well-made, well-executed film that is hard to watch at times due to the content. Besides the war violence, there is a heavy amount of gore as well as suicide and children being killed that may be hard to watch for some people.

This is easily one of the most emotionally charge epic war like movies to come out in a long time. With the amount of content that is included in this film, you can only imagine what else could have been cut out for this condensed US release. If you love Asian cinema, war films, or just great filmmaking, this is a must see film. Just be warned as mentioned before that there are some pretty heavy visuals.

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I walked out of the cinema with both surprise and worry. I'm worried because maybe this is not a very good film, especially not a good "commercial film" to make both ends meet, but I'm really glad to see that Te-Sheng Wei can still insist on his idea even in such a big production.

Before going to the theater, my first concern was whether it would become a stereotypical nationalism or humanism film, because The Wushe Incident had been represented so many times in our history class in Taiwan that it seemed to be too difficult to make this film without compromising on political correctness, but Te-Sheng Wei made it！

Sàidékè balái presented a mass of killing and death, not in a humanism or Han Chinese Nationalism way, but from the aspect of the Seediq. I have heard people arguing if it is necessary to have so much violence in this film, but I have to say that the value of peace or anti-war is the main stream nowadays but not so to the traditional Seediq that time. Therefore, I think the director is not a moral relativist, he just chose not to judge the past with today's value, and resisted the mainstream that drowned the voice of the minority.

It impressed me that there was little Chinese or Taiwanese through out this film. Instead, the film is composed of Seediq language and Japanese. We should cherish it that 80 years after the The Wushe Incident, we can finally see a film which represents historical event not based on the authority opinion but on people who didn't lead the history, i.e. the native.