Product Details

• Actors: Lin Ching-Tai, Umin Boya, Masanobu Ando
• Directors: Te-Sheng Wei
• Format: Blu-ray, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region A/1 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Well Go USA
• DVD Release Date: August 7, 2012
• Run Time: 422 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B008645Z0M
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,555 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review

BRAVEHEART, with a nod to THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS ... --San Francisco Chronicle

Action set in the spell-binding Avatar-land... --Hollywood Reporter

Between the breathtaking landscape of the Seediq territories and the cast-of-thousands battle scenes, the movie is endlessly watchable --Toronto Sun

Product Description

Produced by John Woo, In the mountains of Taiwan, two races clashed in defense of their faiths. One believed in rainbows, the other believed in the sun. Neither side realized they both believed in the same sky. Wei Te-Sheng's epic film WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW: SEEDIQ BALE retells an extraordinary episode from 20th-century history which is little-known, even in Taiwan. Between 1895 and 1945, a Japanese colony inhabited the island and subdued the aboriginal tribes who first settled the land. Seediq leader Mouna Rudo (Lin Ching-Tai) forged a coalition with other tribal leaders and plotted a rebellion against their Japanese colonial masters. The initial uprising took the Japanese by surprise, but they soon sent in their army to crush the rebellion, using aircraft and poison gas. The most expensive Taiwanese film ever made, WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW: SEEDIQ BALE is written and directed by Wei Te-Sheng, whose romantic comedy CAPE NO. 7 received numerous awards and accolades.

DVD Extras

Interviews w/ Director Wei Te-Sheng and Producer John Woo
Making Of
Make Up and Visual Effects
The Epic Journey of the Warriors Short
Behind the Scenes

English Subtitles

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars an extraordinary film July 16, 2012

By John Chandler

Format:Blu-ray

This is an extraordinary offering. Some understanding of the background is helpful for those not familiar with the complex history of Taiwan: The original inhabitants of this island were not Chinese at all but a race akin to many of the tribes in the Philippines and DNA work suggests that most Polynesians can trace their origins back to movements south out of Taiwan. Some 500 years ago Chinese immigration from Fu Jian and later other provinces increased rapidly and these original clans were pushed into the hills where they can still be found in small numbers today. The story begins in 1895 when the aggressive Japanese Empire was ceded Taiwan by the decaying Qing Dynasty and the Japanese sent in their powerful military and civil forces to develop the resources for an expanding economy.

The coastal Han (Chinese) were pretty quickly brought to heel and indeed the Chinese in Taiwan have enjoyed a good relationship with Japan ever since. Most elderly Taiwanese speak Japanese, having learned it at school and the island has many customs and practices that are Japanese rather than those of the mainland Chinese. This did not prove to be the case with the clans in the mountains where considerable resistence and resentment built up as their natural resources were taken from them by the Japanese. This led to a great uprising in the south in the 30s that was eventually crushed with overwhelming force. This long film is the story of this tragic event.

Conceiving and bringing such a story to the screen was no easy task. Language and racial type are huge issues. The mountain clan languages are not at all related to Chinese and are no longer widely spoken. Many have intermarried and Taiwanese today are an interesting mixture of many racial types. Although the country folk in Taiwan are a hardy lot, finding enough cast to run at great speed through Taiwan's beautiful high mountain lands BAREFOOT must have been a challenging task indeed. The story is fast moving and not easy to follow even with some background. The clans were not united and fought amongst themselves over hunting rights as much as they squabbled with the Han and then the Japanese. In the beginning things go badly for them and many learn Japanese and take up roles as local policemen etc but their status rankles and the Japanese were never up to bringing non-Japanese into the fold - even today! The subtitles in English are good but you need to read pretty fast. Chinese visually scan their text and assume we do the same so English subtitles on a Chinese film don't hang about on the screen. This a film to see at least twice.

The sound is outstanding and the camera work remarkable when one considers the astonishing speed of the action. Bodies are all over the place but none of it very explicit. No sex and no real roles for women although the kids do rather well. This is a great set and stronly recommended. The extras are interesting but in Mandarin and not subtitled.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Violent and stunning but unfulfilling August 7, 2012

By C. Sawin VINE™ VOICE

Format:Blu-ray

There are two versions of "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale" coming to DVD and Blu-ray; the four and a half hour original version and the cut two and a half hour US version. This is a review of the two and a half hour version, which certainly seems as though it received the wrong end of the stick. It feels like much of the story was dumped for the massive amount of action sequences.

The historical drama is absolutely gorgeous on Blu-ray. The never ending supply of lush forests and trees just always adds a splash of color to whatever is transpiring. The nonstop bloodshed never ceases to add a little red to the fray, as well. Nature, sunsets, waterfalls, and wildlife; the Taiwan scenery is just stunning. Unfortunately, it's usually sacrificed for cluttered CGI and awkward camera movements.

The CGI is used for a rock slide, some of the more difficult to film wildlife shots, animals, mist, steam, and even explosions. If there was a middle class for special effects, these would fall under that category. The shadowing of the CGI seems to clash with the lighting of the surrounding forests as well and makes the effects stand out even more than they probably should. Then there are times when the camera probably should have just stayed still instead of roaming the countryside to capture what would have been a great shot.

The Taiwanese epic has been compared to the likes of "Braveheart" and "The Last of the Mohicans," but there are some similarities to "300" in there as well. The film is edited really awkwardly at times. Some battle sequences are noticeably sped up while other somewhat random scenes seem to be done in slow motion. The argument could be made that the slow-motion was added to give that specific scene more significance, but it just doesn't seem necessary when it's seemingly done just to see Mona Rudao's hair blow in the wind or to watch water splash around in slow motion just because it looks cool as somebody runs through it.

Mona Rudao (Lin Ching-Tai) also assembles 300 men from the 12 Seediq Bale tribes to battle the 3000 Japanese police. You've got unnecessary slow motion, you've got 300 warriors, and you have those warriors going up against impossible odds. The comparisons to "300" are kind of a no-brainer.

Calmer moments to appreciate in this version of "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale" are slim to none, but the one or two that stay with you after it's over are pretty incredible. Mona Rudao's conversation with Ichiro Hanaoka aka Dakis Nomin (Yi-Fan Hsu) by the waterfall may be the scene that has the biggest impact in the entire film. It just feels like the most fleshed out sequence in the film and Mona Rudao singing with his deceased father afterward only adds a bit more weight to it. Most of General Kamada's (Sabu Kawahara) scenes are pretty intriguing, as well. Mostly because he's so enraged with how Mona Rudao keeps getting the best of so many men with so little of his own.

Just reading the Wikipedia entry on the story of the uncut film gives you a completely different impression than what the two and a half hour version leaves you with. One minute, Mona Rudao is giving his word that he won't start a war and the next he's leading an uprising. The battle sequences are spectacular, especially the final one. There are so many beheadings, hangings, and deaths of children that you lose count. "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale" doesn't shy away from anything even though the message is pretty hopeless. But all of the film's depth seems to have been stripped away. The film throws you into two battles right at the start and you don't really know or care why they're going on.

If you're interested in seeing "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale," tackle the four and a half hour version. While it may seem extremely tiresome, at least you'll be getting the entire story. The two and a half hour version only gives you a glimpse of that rainbow bridge the Seediq Bale always talk about meeting their ancestors on, but it's so brief that you don't actually get to see it. Hopefully the original version lets you see that bridge in a better light.

Extras include a Making of, Behind the Scenes, and Make-up and Visual Effects featurettes that total nearly thirty minutes in special features. Also included are the theatrical and international trailers.

"Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale" is now available on DVD and Blu-ray and available as two different versions: US and international. The Blu-ray of the US version is presented with a 16:9 widescreen presentation with 5.1 HD Surround Sound (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital Stereo), is Multilingual, and available with English and Chinese subtitles. The film is not rated by the MPAA and is 150 minutes in length (international version is 276 minutes).

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars WARNING! THIS 2ND DISC IS DEFECTIVE! September 16, 2012

By P. J. Heffernan

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

This 4 and half hour version is missing it's last 30 minutes. Everyone who has bought this version has said the same thing. Nothing worse than sitting through 4 hours of epic to be cut off at the end. They need to recall these and reimburse us. Amazon should stop selling immediately.