Warriors of the Rainbow

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.

then try to watch this 'Warriors of The Rainbow', and tell me if you could spot the similarities of these two movies. The invasion of the British soldiers to north America vs the Japanese soldiers invaded Taiwan; then there's a great fighter among the Mohicans warriors on par with a ferocious fighter among the Taiwanese aboriginal tribes; then again, the Mohicans got feudal sworn enemy of another tribe to the similar feud of two Taiwanese aboriginal tribes....Then when i watched this movie, i suddenly realized that the whole picture is more like when the American forces invaded Iraq, there were tribes to become the collaborators helping Americans and using them to help killed their own feudal enemies... But this is the first time that I felt this movie was a very mature production since I never found anything like it out of Taiwan. Because usually, all movies from Taiwan, the dialogs were disgustingly embarrassing feminine, males whining like females. Yet this movie is absolutely masculine and this is first time that I felt the male population in Taiwan sounded and acted more like man, not just whiners. Furthermore, this is also the first time that I consider this movie is at a higher international level with great acting, directing and cinematographic achievement. And this is very rare to me and totally win my respect back to the Taiwanese movie industry. Salute!

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.

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).

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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