![]() ![]() As Rudo sees the traditions and honor of his people stripped away, he realizes the time has come to fight back, and in 1930 he brings together a group of former Seediq Bale soldiers, many of whom have been reduced to infighting, and molds them into a revolutionary army. However, Rudo’s way of life is threatened under the yoke of occupying forces from Japan, who took over the nation in 1895. There is no joy in this movie, no sense of triumph or accomplishment, just an overwhelming sense of loss.Mouna Rudo was born and raised among the Seediq people, an indigenous tribe in Taiwan, and as he grew to be a man he became a member of the Seediq Bale, a courageous band of native warriors. What happens to him is not really made clear, and whether he ever crossed his mythic rainbow to his promised land is a mystery that the movie does not reveal. Only the main character, the leader of the rebellion, remains the focus of attention and memorable. There are so many deaths that any sympathy gets suspended. As a movie, it becomes hard to tell the characters apart since the inter-cutting of scenes is consistent. The movie becomes an unending depiction of the horrors that can occur after a rebellion - shootings, decapitations, ambushes, drownings, suicides, executions of the innocent, bombings from aircraft, poison mustard gas. So began a tale of death, destruction, and reprisal. The rebels knew they could not succeed and were doomed, but they believed that their actions would merit a glorious afterlife. Now, in part two, the movie goes on to describe the events that followed. The depiction of the events leading up to the massacre is in part one of this epic. Led by a compelling tribal leader, the natives mounted a terrible rebellion that resulted in the massacre of a Japanese community, women and children not being spared. But many fierce natives remained unconverted and resentful. Some tribes were converted and remained loyal, and they fought the rebels. The Japanese, like the Spanish in the Philippines, attempted to impose its culture on the natives whom they considered "savages" and in some cases they were successful in converting the people. The occupation was brutal, and the native population, which was distinct from the Chinese (the Han) who had migrated there, had much to grieve about. Historically, the events depicted in the film took place in 1930, well after the Japanese acquired Taiwan by treaty and started to colonize it and began exploiting its natural resources, especially its lumber. ![]() ![]() The story takes up after the first phase of the rebellion by the aborigines on Taiwan against the Japanese invaders. I saw part one of the two part movie which takes well over four hours, and was intrigued enough to watch part two. ![]()
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