Dazzling to see, bona fide to blame, and a small monotonous to take after for over two and a half

hours,
the Taiwanese activity adventure Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Parcel tells the genuine story of
Taiwan’s native individuals who were nearly wiped out by Japanese colonizers within the 1930s. Their
resistance beneath the authority of Chief Mouna Rudo is described in a marvelous, nearly continuous
arrangement of shocking hand-to-hand combat scenes.

Different from the usual opening titles, the action begins as China hands Taiwan over to the Japanese in
1895. In the remote mountainous interior, aboriginal tribes of Seediqs still lead a traditional life, hunting
for animals, warring with neighboring clans, head-hunting, and tattooing their faces as a sign of initiation
into manhood. Japanese military officials see the natives as an obstacle to the resources of Taiwan. Later
a team of Japanese soldiers is attacked by natives. The attack leads to a battle between the Japanese
and natives, including Mona Rudao, on a cliff trail. On his way to trade with Han Chinese of the
mountain, Mona Rudao also feuds with Temu Walis, a Seediq young man from the 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 Wei pull no punches on the toughness of the chief’s
arrogant son Mouna Rudo while extolling his fearless heroism in hunting and killing. Rather than
conventional sympathy, viewers are made to feel respect for a man dyed in tradition. When the
Japanese army, who view them as savages and set out to “civilize” them with schools and post offices, at
last contains the tribes they sink into wage slavery and alcoholism. During this interlude in the film’s
battle scenes, Mouna Rudo secretly organizes the surviving Seediq clans in an uprising of 300 warriors.
On a sports holiday, they stage a surprise massacre of the assembled Japanese, which Mouna calls “a
blood sacrifice to our ancestors” that includes abundant decapitation. In the guerrilla warfare that
follows, the forest-wise Seediqs do serious damage to the Japanese army, until the generals’ call in
airplanes, cannons, mortars, and gas bombs to subdue them (the year is 1930.)

No matter how ingeniously it is varied, the non-stop fighting becomes oppressive in the long run. The
film’s most memorable moments showing director Wei’s dramatic flare and the actors’ surprising
natural talent are quieter moments: the suicide by hanging of the Seediq women who kill themselves
rather than be a burden to their fighting husbands, and the extremely moving deaths of a mixed
Japanese-Seediq family.

A good film is always a carrier of various arts, and many parts of this film such as typical characters and
society, music, costumes, and cultural connotation are worth appreciation. A good film will also arouse
the string at your heart, bringing joy, tears, or profound thinking. As far as I am concerned, Seediq Bale is
the latter that makes us reconsider the significance of life and redefine barbarism and civilization in the
name of faith. Among different religions, respect is necessary, and never try to change others with your
so-called standard. This is the prerequisite for advocating humanitarianism.