Seediq Bale Part 1

Movie website:
http://www.seediqbalethemovie.com/eng/aboutus.php

Seediq Bale, a top-grossing 2011 Taiwanese domestic film, is based on the Musha/Wushe Incident of 1930 (霧社事件). The movie was made from the perspective of Seediq, the Taiwanese aborigines group that lived in the Musha/Wushe area. This was a major event in the history of Japanese imperialism, especially colonial Taiwan. It was the most violent and shocking uprising since the Ta-pa-ni Incident in 1915 (西来庵事件). The Japanese colonial government believed it had pacified and "civilized" the most "barbaric" group in Taiwan. But the long-term oppression of these people led to an uprising, resulting in the killing of over one hundred Japanese men, women, and children who were present at elementary-school age children's athletic event (運動会). The Japanese colonial state responded to this uprising by killing over one thousand Seediq people. This incident led the colonial state to reconsider its policy toward Taiwanese aborigines.

Actors in the movie spoke mostly in the Seediq language. Japanese language was used by Japanese figures, and aborigines and Han people dealing with each other or Japanese people. These language uses follow the current trend of cultural sensitivity. The movie also seeks to restore voices for Taiwanese aborigines who were almost always silenced in Taiwanese society.

While making the movie from the perspective of the Seediq people was great, scant historical sources from Seediq perspective made one wonders how historically accurate the movie is. From my limited knowledge of the event, I understand that the Japanese colonial administration had trouble (or refused to?) piecing together the planning part of the uprising. The little to no written sources left by the Seediq made the historian's job difficult. What historians get is Japanese reaction to this uprising, and not much of the "authentic voice" of the Seediq. Some details of the execution of the uprising as portrayed in part 1 of the movie are historically "murky"- as in historians were not sure what actually happened.

Nevertheless, the movie is a must-see. Issues of assimilation, identity crises, colonial oppression and exploitation, and the colonizer's conception of "civilization" and "barbarism" are clearly illuminated in the film. These themes can also be found in the Han Taiwanese population, the Ryukyuans/Okinawans, the Koreans, and other colonized populations during this same time period. Some may argue that these are recurring themes in Taiwanese history, including the Manchu Qing period and the Chinese Nationalist period.

One minor criticism is the overwhelming focus on male Seediq. Because I missed the first 25 minutes of part 1 of the film and have not watched part 2, I cannot make a final judgment on the presence of women in the film. I look forward to seeing part 2, and re-watch part 1 on DVD.