Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale

Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale

Sai Te Ke Ba Lai

During the Japanese rule of Taiwan, the Seediq were forced to lose their own culture and give up their faith. Men were subject to harsh labour and kept from traditional hunting; whereas women had to serve the Japanese policemen and their families by doing the household work and giving up their traditional weaving work. Above all, they were forbidden to tattoo their faces. And these tattoos were seen as the Seediq's traditional belief to transform themselves into Seediq Bale ("true humans"). The film depicts the Wushe Incident, which occurred in central Taiwan during the Japanese rule. When the Seediq Bale, believing in the Rainbow, and the Japanese, believing in the Sun, met one another, they fought. The leader of Seediq Bale, Mona Rudao, led 300 warriors fighting against 3000 Japanese troopers. The only thing they forgot was whether it was the Rainbow or the Sun they believed in; they actually believed in the same sky.

About director:

Wei Te-Sheng (b. 1969 in Yongkang City, Taiwan) began his career as an assistant director on films such as Edward Yang’s "Mahjong" and Chen Kuo-fu’s "Double Vision". His filmography includes shorts "Face in the Evening" (1995), "Three Dialogues" (1996), "Before Dawn" (1997), and the features "About July" (1999), the box office smash "Cape No. 7" (2008).

Selected filmography: "Face in the Evening" (1995, short), "Three Dialogues" (1996, short), "Before Dawn" (1997, short), "About July" (1999), "Cape No. 7" (2008), "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale" (2011, "Kino pavasaris").

Trailers: