Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (Seediq: ; literally Real Seediq or Real Men; ) is a 2011 Taiwanese historical drama film written and directed by Wei Te-sheng and produced by John Woo, based on the 1930 Musha Incident in central Taiwan.
The full version of the film shown in Taiwan is divided into two parts—Part 1 is called "太陽旗" (The Sun Flag), and Part 2 is called "彩虹橋" (The Rainbow Bridge), running a total of 4 hours and 36 minutes. However, the original two parts of the film were combined into the single international cut; its run time was 2 hours and 30 minutes. The film is the most expensive production in Taiwanese cinema history. The film has also been compared to the 1995 film Braveheart by Mel Gibson and The Last of the Mohicans by the media in Taiwan.'Seediq Bale' depicts Taiwanese natives' fight for dignity
The film was shown in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival and was selected as a contender for nomination for the 84th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film in 2011. It was one of nine films shortlisted to advance to the next round of voting for nomination.
Plot Warriors of the Rainbow depicts the Wushe Incident, which occurred near Qilai Mountain of Taiwan under Japanese rule. Mona Rudao, a chief of Mehebu village of Seediq people, led warriors fighting against the Japanese.
Part I The film begins with a hunt by a mountain river in Taiwan. Two Bunun men are hunting a boar, but they are attacked by a group led by young Mona Rudao of Seediq people. Mona Rudao invades the territory, kills one of them and takes away the boar.
In 1895, China cedes Taiwan to Japan via the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The Japanese invasion of Taiwan ends with Japan defeating Han Chinese resistance. Japanese military officials see the natives as an obstacle to the resources of Taiwan. Later a team of Japanese soldiers are attacked by natives. The attack leads to a battle between Japanese and natives, including Mona Rudao, on a cliff trail. On his way to trade with Han Chinese off the mountain, Mona Rudao also feuds with Temu Walis, a Seediq young man from Toda group. The Japanese ban people from trading with Mona Rudao, and collaborate with a group of Bunun to get Mona Rudao's men drunk and ambush them when they are asleep. After some battles (the 1902 人止關 and 1903 姊妹原), Rudao Luhe, Mona Rudao's father, is injured. Their village, Mahebu, and neighboring villages fall under the control of the Japanese.
Twenty years pass. Mahebu and other villages are forced to abolish the custom of keeping the heads they have hunted. Men are subject to low-wage logging jobs and prohibited from carrying guns they own, and from traditional animal and human hunting. Women work in houses of the Japanese and give up the traditional weaving work. Children, including Pawan Nawi, attend school in Wushe village. Men buy alcohol and medicine from a grocery owned by a Han man, who the men hold a grudge against as they are now in debt. Above all, they are forbidden to tattoo their faces, because to earn that tattoo the young men must kill an enemy and take their head. The tattoo is believed to be the requirement for Seediq people to "go to the other side across the Rainbow Bridge" after death. There are also young people such as Dakis Nomin, Dakis Nawi, Obing Nawi and Obing Tadao, who adopt Japanese names, education and life style and attempt to work and live among Japanese. The Japanese, except a few, are not aware of the tension.
In late autumn of 1930, the village of Mona Rudao holds a wedding for a young couple. Mona Rudao goes hunting for the wedding and quarrels for hunting ground with Temu Walis, who is hunting with Japanese policeman, Kojima Genji, and his son. At the wedding, Yoshimura, a newly appointed and nervous Japanese policeman, inspects the village. Mona Rudao's first son, Tado Mona, offers to share his homebrewed millet wine with Yoshimura, but Yoshimura considers the beer unsanitary as it is fermented with saliva, and Tado Mona's hands are also covered in blood from an animal he has just slaughtered. A fight with Tado Mona and his brother Baso Mona ensues. The fight is stopped, but Yoshimura fears for his life and threatens to punish the whole village. Later Mona Rudao tries to mend relations with Yoshimura, who refuses to accept the apology. Young men, including Piho Sapo from Hogo village, see the mass punishment as unacceptable and urge Mona Rudao to start war with the Japanese. Mona Rudao tells them that it is impossible to win, but accepts that the war is unavoidable and decides to fight.
In a few days Mona Rudao calls on villages with pacts to join forces. They schedule to attack the Japanese on October 27, when Japanese will attend a sports game (in memory of Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa) and gather on the schoolyard of the Wushe Village. The women, including Mona Rudao's first daughter, Mahung Mona, know the men are planning for a war and are saddened by the prospect.
Dakis Nomin, a young man who adopted the Japanese name Hanaoka Ichiro and became a police officer, notices that Mona Rudao is preparing for war. He comes to a waterfall and tries to persuade Mona Rudao not to start the war, instead Mona Rudao persuades him to collaborate. After Dakis Nomin leaves, Mona Rudao sings with the ghost of Rudao Luhe and determines to start the war. In the night before, Mahung Mona tries to seduce her husband, which would break a tribal rule and prohibit him from going to war the next day. The natives attack the police outposts. Mona Rudao then rallies young men from village to village, and at last chief Tadao Nogan of Hogo village agrees to join Mona Rudao.(Chinese) 愛鋼鍊的洛洛。賽德克巴萊之荷歌社頭目 塔道諾幹.....巴蘭社頭目寫了半個月 這次希望能不要超過....。YAHOO!奇摩部落格。04:34 AM 2011/12/25。 Everyone is clear about the outcome of the war: the death of the native warriors is certain, but they are willing to fight anyway, because only a warrior with blood on his hand can enter the "land of their ancestors". The combined warriors decide to rather fight and die in honour, rather than live in shame.
On October 27 the attack takes place as scheduled, with the killing of all Japanese men, women, and children. Pawan Nawi and other boys kill their Japanese teacher and his family. Obing Nawi, a woman who wears Japanese clothes, is spared only because her husband Dakis Nomin covers her with a native cloth. Obing Tadao, who is daughter of chief Tadao Nogan and who also wears Japanese clothes, survives by hiding in a storage room. Han people such as the grocer are spared during the attack. Native people attack the police station and take the guns kept in the building. One Japanese police officer escapes and tells the outside world about the attack. The film ends with Mona Rudao sitting in the schoolyard which is full of bodies.
Part II The second film begins with Dakis Nomin and Dakis Nawi writing their last words on the wall, showing their ambivalence. When the news of war breaks open, policeman Kojima Genji is threatened by the natives, but convinces Temu Walis and his men to side with Japan. The colonial government sees the uprising as a major crisis, and sends Major General Kamada Yahiko with a force of 3,000 police and soldiers to fight the 300 men on Mona Rudao's side. Pawan Nawi and other boys earn their face tattoos. In a woods some people begin to commit mass suicide, Dakis Nomin, his wife Obing Nawi, and infant son Dakis Nawi among them.
General Kamada is furious with the stalemate and orders the use of illegal poison gas bombs against the natives. Kojima Genji sets bounties on men, women and children in Mona Rudao's village, and orders Temu Walis and his men to fight Mona Rudao.
The battle turns against Mona Rudao's side, many of his men are killed by poison gas and Temu Walis' men. Mona Rudao's people lose the village to the Japanese and other natives and retreat to caves. Pawan Nawi and the boys feel desperate and ask to fight side by side with Mona Rudao. Mona Rudao asks them to recite their creation story in which the first man and first woman are formed from a tree that is half stone half wood.
In the retreat the women kill the children then hang themselves on trees to conserve food for the warriors. Piho Sapo also helped his injured relative, Piho Walis, to hang himself. Temu Walis is shaken when he sees the hanged women, and claims that he fights for his own sake not for Kojima.
Mona Rudao and his men launch a desperate attack on the Japanese force occupying the Mahebu village. Baso Mona is injured and asks his brother to kill him. Pawan Nawi and the boys die fighting. Meanwhile, in a river, Temu Walis and his men are ambushed by Piho Sapo and other men. Before he dies, Temu Walis hallucinates that he is fighting a young Mona Rudao.
When Mona Rudao sees the fight is near the end, he gives leadership to Tado Mona, and returns to his wife and children (the movie implies two versions of the story, one is that Mona Rudao shot his wife, the other is that the wife hanged herself). Some people of the village surrender and survive. Natives present and identify heads of the dead to the Japanese leadership for rewards, and it is shown that in the battle they feud with each other even further. Mahung Mona is resuscitated by the Japanese, and is sent to offer Tado Mona's men wine and a chance to surrender. The men take the wine, and sing and dance with the women, but refuse to surrender. Tado Mona tells Mahung Mona to give birth to and raise offspring, and leads men to hang themselves in woods. Piho Sapo is captured and tortured to death. The war ends, and even Kamada is impressed by his enemy's spirit. The surviving people of the villages that rebel are removed from their homes, and are later attacked by Kojima. Mona Rudao is missing, and a native hunter is led by a bird to find his body. The hunter then sees Mona Rudao and his people following the Seediq legend to cross the rainbow bridge. The film ends with a scene of several natives telling their creation story.
Cast
Nolay Piho (林慶台, Lin Ching-tai) as Mona Rudao: Mona Rudao is the protagonist. The character deviates from the real historical figure significantly. The movie character is described as a calm, authoritative and mature Seediq Tgdaya village chief of Mahebu. He lived under Japanese rule for 30 years and had been to Japan. He understands Japan's power, but thinks it brings Seediq people no good, and insists on maintaining their own culture. In history, Mona Rudao did not participate in some of the battles described in the film. Whereas he was famous, he was one of many leaders in the uprising. There are controversies over the film's depiction of Mona Rudao shooting his wife and children. In 2010 some Seediq people held a forum and said that it is impossible for Mona Rudao to do such a thing as it is forbidden by the "gaya" custom. The director responded that he changed the scene to make the situation ambiguous. There are also controversies of whether Mona Rudao is depicted as a hero. Nolay Piho is a 51-year-old Presbyterian minister from Nan-ao, Yilan. Nolay is of Atayal origin. Nolay is not a professional actor, nor does he speak Seediq or Japanese language. Nolay used Romanization and Chinese characters to memorize his lines. It was difficult for him to act and the mood on site was tense. He had a heart attack during the shooting. In addition, Lin is shorter than the character. Lin also starred in a short the director made about going to Venice for film festival. The movie brought Lin much publicity and appearance but he said he still wants to be a minister. Nolay appeared in two more films and a TV series as of today. He once moved to a village in Wulai, Taipei to support a local legal dispute. Yuki Daki (大慶, Da Ching) as Mona Rudao (young): The younger Mona Rudao is described as a tall, athletic and aggressive man. Yuki Daki is a 34 years old male model of Atayal origin.