For the last 10 days since it’s premiere in Taiwan on September 9th, 2011, a movie has been smashing box-office records, gaining critical acclaim, and dominating headlines and watercooler conversations. I can’t even have a party without someone mentioning Seediq Bale (pronounced See-dick bal-lay). Costing a whopping $24 million US dollars to shoot (the biggest budget for any Taiwanese movie in history), Seediq Bale: Warriors of the Rainbow was selected this month for the Venice Film Festival and is earning the praises in domestic and international markets.

The movie depicts the real life 1930 Wushu Incident in Taiwan, where 300 native Seediq warriors staged an uprising against the Japanese colonial forces, who by then had been in Taiwan for over 30 years. The movie is a subtitled film for the Taiwanese audiences already, since the dialogue is entirely in Seediq dialect and Japanese. The domestic release of Seediq Bale is being split into two parts, a total of 4 and a half hour running time (think Red Cliff 1 and 2). The part 1 poster on the left reads “warriors, your hands which are covered in blood, can it still cup the soil of the hunting grounds? – 9-09 – the Sun Flag”, while the part 2 poster on the right reads: “children, your clean foreheads, can you still cross the beautiful rainbow bridge? – 9-30 – the Rainbow Bridge.” Continue reading →