Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale I

I wont say much about this film, but what I will say is this.... I am from England, but I have a huge interest in world cinema as well as action movies from the far East, I have been watching both for over 30 years, so I somewhat understand myths and traditions and folklore from that part of the world. Pretty much on all these accounts the film delivers in bundles, it wont be to everyones tastes, but considering where this film comes from, and what the Director has done it is incredible. You would not get a film like this anymore from Hollywood, the last film I can remember that it really reminded me of is GLORY (for those of you that know it), although that is Hollywood, and this is Taiwanese. They were both unrelenting though. This motion picture saga has...Great landscapes, beautiful haunting tribal folksongs in the soundtrack, and authentic wardrobe and sets, obviously some of the other comments that detract from the film might be fair, but this is a moving and unforgiving four and a half hour epic, where else are you gonna get to see a film like this ?

Red Cliff parts 1 and 2 maybe....but this is a Nobel and Splendid film.

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.

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.

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).