Historical Epic is Hope of Taiwan Film Industry
Taiwanese director Wei Te-sheng has reason to be thrilled about the upcoming Venice premiere of "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale," his four-hour epic about a 1930 aboriginal uprising against Taiwan's Japanese rulers.
A decade in preparation, the $24 million production is stirring hopes that the island's film industry is set to stage a comeback, after flaming out in the 1980s following a series of groundbreaking efforts, many about young romance in rural locales.
Wei was able to begin shooting Seediq Bale in 2009 after the surprise success of "Cape No. 7" — a drama about the romance between a Taiwanese man and Japanese woman — made him the darling of local financial angels interested in the revival of the Taiwanese cinema.
Over the past two years films like the gangster drama "Monga" have helped the industry begin to turn the corner on its decades long doldrums. But it is Seediq Bale — one of 22 films competing for best feature film at next month's Venice Film Festival — where the fiercest hopes reside.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei on Monday, Wei thanked Seediq Bale's backers and paid special tribute to its hundreds of aboriginal actors — few of whom had any professional experience before the shooting began. Aboriginals, who comprise about 2 percent of Taiwan's population of 23 million, live mostly along the island's heavily mountainous spine. They are traditionally farmers and hunters, though more and more young people are now seeking jobs in construction and other types of manual labor in Taiwan's Han Chinese dominated cities.
Seediq Bale is about a young warrior who incites his tribesmen to revolt against Japanese colonial administrators, who ruled Taiwan between 1895 and 1945. Rousing his fellow tribesmen to battle he notes: "The Japanese number more than the stones at the Chusui River, and are denser than leaves at the forest, but our determination is firmer than Chilai Mountain."
Taiwanese pop star Vivian Hsu, who plays a Seediq woman forced to adopt a Japanese lifestyle, said the aboriginal actors' lack of experience was more than compensated by their natural acting ability.
"They had that stern, killing look in their eyes," she said, referring to a crowd scene during a key moment in the development of the Seediq revolt.
Hsu said she was happy to act in Wei's film because of the respect she has for the director. But despite its $24 million budget — huge by local standards — she said cost was always an issue, because of the large-scale battle scenes Seediq Bale contains.
Some Taiwanese have protested at the Venice festival's listing of the film as coming from Taiwan, China — a political reference that makes the island seem like it comes under Beijing's direct sovereignty, when in fact it has enjoyed more than 60 years of de facto independence.
But despite filing an official protest with festival organizers, producer Huang Chih-ming said he was now ready to put the controversy behind him.
"The important thing is to let more people view the film," he said.
Source: Associated Press
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