Indigenous culture, between barbarism and civilization, can simply advance and retreat.
You can see in "Sidekbare" that the aborigines hunt pigs on the ground, and then see the natives easily learn Japanese; the natives have the ability to control wild beasts and live in the mountains, and they also have the ability to adapt to civilization, and when barbarism and civilization are placed together, how do the Sidek people choose?
At the beginning of the movie, it is as if it is immediately separated from the hustle and bustle of the city and enters a different world, the beautiful mountain stream, as if it is a Pandora planet from Avatar, but it is the good mountains and good waters of Taiwan that are next to us, this idea makes people tremble in their hearts, and in the same land that we may have climbed mountains and walked to, in the past, it was the place where the indigenous people ran and jumped, hunted, fought life and death, and hunted the heads of hostile tribes, and the two sides naturally had to shout at each other in the Sidek language. The simulated model that was previously only seen in the exhibition halls related to the aborigines is now vividly staged in front of the eyes, which makes people's eyes open and addictive.
And this feeling of traveling through time and space, as if coming to another world, runs through the whole film, it is so confusing, so fantastic, but what is staged is the history that really happened.
For the Kirisha incident presented in a movie, I think it is necessary for everyone to understand that although the Japanese rule era was only 50 years old, many major reforms and events were experienced during the period, and the original people of Taiwan and the Pingdi people maintained a way of life of well water without flooding the river and bartering with each other, for them, the Pingdi people were already outsiders, not to mention a third party from Japan who wanted to make us submit.
Taiwan's mountainous terrain is fragmented, forming many independent living spaces, thus giving birth to dozens of independent indigenous ethnic groups. Ethnic groups sometimes intermarried with each other, sometimes fought with each other, entangled with each other, full of many ethnic contradictions and historical hatreds, so that foreign rulers have the opportunity to see the needle in the needle.
The Kirisame Incident occurred twice, the first was the Sun Banner depicting Mona Rudao leading the Mahpo Society to attack the Japanese at the Kirisame Society, and the second was when the Doze and Machpo led by Temuwalis and Machpo killed each other in the Kirisame, and the film faithfully recorded these two events, so it was divided into two episodes, and the length of the film was very long.
It is because of the faithful and complete presentation of historical events, so the pace of the last episode "Sun Flag" is very slow, it must let the audience know why the Wushe Incident occurred, many details can not be deleted, so from a multi-faceted perspective, including the signing of the Maguan Treaty to cede Taiwan, the Japanese high-pressure and Huairou policy, the relationship between the indigenous peoples, the young Mona Rudao and Temuvaris encounter and resentment, etc.
The last episode can be said to be completely without a flashpoint, not everyone knows the ins and outs of the Wushe incident, even we ourselves do not know the indigenous culture very well, and then slowly and carefully take everyone to see each link, but the history is really huge, and it is two and a half hours to clearly explain.
I just feel very detailed but lost focus, very complete but lack of deeper emotion, if you can describe more about Mona Rudao's state of mind change and humiliation, or the characters in the play are forced by the helplessness of the environment, then the emotional performance of this episode will be more abundant.
For the Sideks, tattooing is one of the most important rituals in a person's life. Every newly born life of the Sideks, male or female, tattoos a forehead tattoo on their foreheads at a young age. It is a sign of life, but it also represents the care of ancestral spirits to protect them from growing up. But a person who only has a forehead tattoo cannot qualify to be a Sedek Balai, a real man.
To become Sedek Bale, the men of the Sedek tribe must have superb hunting skills and successfully hunt the head of the human head before they can tattoo the chin to represent the adult tattoo under the witness of the leader. As for the qualifications for the tattoo, the woman must strive to learn the knowledge and techniques of weaving, from picking hemp, rubbing hemp, weaving to sewing clothes, until one day her weaving skills are approved by the tribal elders, and then she can tattoo the cheek lines on both sides of the cheeks.
For the Saidek, only people with stings on their faces can marry and have offspring;
Those who do not have tattoos on their faces will always be regarded as children, will always be ridiculed, and they will not be able to cross the Rainbow Bridge to see the ancestral spirits after death.
It can be said that the absence of a tattoo is the most shameful depravity for a Sidek person.
For the Saidek people, there is only the custom of reverence for the soul and sacrifice of the soul, and it is not enough to sacrifice the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, etc., that is to say, their only belief is the ancestral spirit.
This is the idea that they have been indoctrinated since childhood, it is deeply rooted in their hearts, and how can a hunter who does not even have his own hunting ground tattoo his face? Equivalent to being forever abandoned by the ancestral spirits across the Rainbow Bridge, the abandoned ones.
And the Saidek have this deep-seated spirit of faith.
So that even if the entire Saidek people are facing the crisis of annihilation, they must leave their souls behind,
It is also this soul and spirit that are constantly fermented in the film, and we are deeply attracted by the spiritual beliefs he expresses.
The momentum of the scene in the film is naturally magnificent, whether it is running in the mountains and forests hunting, the aboriginal customs drinking and singing, the Japanese attacking the mountains and forests, or the scene of the last massacre of the six indigenous peoples in the Kirisha is very exquisite, and the Kirishe Village is built by the crew itself.
Although it is not necessarily in line with the style of that era, but you can feel the intention, let people know that the original Taiwanese mountains and forests are so beautiful, just like the contrast between barbarism and culture in the film, the ancestral spirit respected by the indigenous people is actually the beauty of nature, all things are endlessly spiritual, the more human beings forcibly deprive, and finally throw back at us.
Although the seemingly civilized Japanese brought up the economy when they governed Taiwan, they also wantonly dug up the precious resources of Taiwan's mountains and forests, so what is more barbaric is argued at a glance.
This kind of epic film often makes people feel the position of the director himself, which will make the connotation and meaning of the film originally presented, and because the director's position is biased, the film will become a personal voice tool or be manipulated by people with hearts.
Of course, the history of film itself is not a correct angle, after all, the director will still exaggerate the historical facts themselves for the sake of the tension of the film. However, judging from this episode of the movie, the director's narration of the story does not deviate from one side, but in terms of content, he tries to remove the things that are too spilled with dog blood, and tries his best to present the historical facts and maintain the dramatic tension, which is believed to be quite difficult to do.
I think director Wu Yusen, who is one of the executive producers, should have given this film a considerable degree of assistance so that this film can have both.
Rainbows appear several times in Sidekbare. Wei Dao also openly said the meaning of "rainbow", and at the same time gave this scene a deeper meaning after the rainbow.
This is a legend from the Sidek tribe about the Rainbow Bridge:
At the top of the Rainbow Bridge leading to the Ancestral House, there is also a fat hunting ground! Our ancestors are still there! A hunting ground that only heroic souls can enter.
The Rainbow Bridge represents a gateway to Elysium and the ultimate belonging of the soul. However, in addition to explaining this layer, Wei Desheng also explained that in fact, culture should be inclusive and respectful, rather than using one culture to force another culture. It should be like a rainbow, seven colors lined up together, no one interferes with anyone, but the picture formed by standing together is so beautiful that people breath away.
"Sidekbarle" is not wonderful, not exciting, but it portrays "beauty" vividly, no matter what level.
The final ending, there is a feeling of "brilliant to flat", after the end of the fierce battle, Wei Dao used his good multi-line description, with many short fragments intertwined, telling us the ending of each character, like the spark of the explosion, scattered into a small Spark, and then slowly extinguished, for such a terrifying story, such a way of ending, some people may feel loose, but I feel very satisfied.
Because such an ending is really the best way to transform emotions, dilute sadness, sublimate into a re-examination of history, I think it is an unimaginable masterpiece.
In Mona's mind, this battle is not about any success or failure, but about the belonging of the soul.
"Sidekbarle can lose the body, but it must win the soul."
For Mona, the spirit of the ancestral spirit in the past twenty years has gradually been forgotten by his descendants under the oppression of the Japanese. Spiritual oblivion is a more terrible thing than death.
Twenty years ago, when Mona was subdued by the Japanese, he stared at the Japanese fiercely, saying "I am not willing!" The cry of pain as he tried to resist when he was crushed to the ground by a group of Japanese policemen, Mona was a savage and proud soul. Once an arrogant and conceited leader, I don't know how he survived a life of having to swallow every day for twenty years, but the little bits of gunpowder accumulated from the matches under his bed were his determination and a heart that would never be tamed by foreign cultures.
Among them, the most touching fragment of me is that after resisting to the point of being unable to continue to support, Mona Rudao gave command to his son Dado, disappeared into the mountains and forests himself, and the Japanese army sent Ma Hong, the daughter of Mona Rudao, to bring wine to his brother Dado, however, they only appeared, and met with his sister for the last time, without changing their determination to die.
But just before they left, Dado and the others danced the dance of the afterlife, sang the song of the afterlife, cheered and fired a gun at the air, as if to celebrate, they can still be so open-minded in the face of a predetermined death, living in the present, quite touching, for those of us who are mediocre every day and only want to live, it is nothing less than a slap in the face.
The Japanese commander, at first, still thought that the "fierce" was just an animal and a barbaric act, refused to recognize them as warriors, and then had to change his mouth, calling them warriors, and lamenting why he saw the samurai spirit that had disappeared for a long time in Japan.
"Sidekbare" does not film the "Second Kirisha Incident" caused by Genji Kojima, only using subtitles to kill unarmed capitulators in the name of revenge for Temuvaris, while the subtitles in the film tell about the Japanese army forcibly relocating survivors to Kawanaka Island, but it also does not mention that many of them died of illness after they arrived on Kawanaka Island, and many environmental unaccustomed to suicide, let alone the brutal execution and booby-trapping of survivors who may have participated in the grass.
Indeed, as Dado said, those who survive are harder.
But their deaths were not without value, and after the Fog Society incident, they finally attracted attention,
Japan's "Yomiuri Shimbun" published "Tragic Fierceness", describing the Incidentks as fighting tragic battles in front of new weapons and like the later movie "The Last Samurai", and the Japanese media also turned the gun to the ruling party of Japan at the time after the incident, triggering a review of the policy of the colonial aborigines, which eventually led to the 13th governor of the Japanese rule, Hidezo Ishizuka, the chief of state, the governor of Taichung Prefecture and other relevant officials had to resign under pressure, and the policy toward the indigenous people was greatly changed in the future.
The Sedek warriors didn't just die in vain, they made a difference in the world in their quest for dignity.
Back to the movie itself, there are still many imperfections in the next episode, such as the animal special effects in the previous episode, such as problems such as action stops, and the zulingbird in the next episode is the same as the Taiwanese macaque.
In addition, Mona Rudao was bombed on the suspension bridge and immediately reappeared on the riverbank, and This section of Wei Dao claimed in an interview that he did not handle it well, and was originally planned to survive the landing after Mona Rudao fell into the water.
But I think that "Sidekbarle" can be said to be a very special film type, let alone a commercial art film that Wei Dao wants to open the market, although it is built in a commercial pattern, but there is still a strong atmosphere of art films in the bones, such as the use of symbolic techniques in the film, Temuvaris seems to be at war with Mona Rudao, Kojima Yuji seems to see Mona Rudao rushing out of the flames, the last episode of "Sun Flag" Mona Rudao seems to see his father singing with him, etc., are very artistic expressions.
Perhaps the passage on the suspension bridge where Mona Rudao and the Japanese commander Kenda are confronted is also regarded as a symbol, so that there is no need to worry about the rationality of surviving the fall off the bridge.
About the film itself to write here, let's talk about some tips. The wife of Genji Kojima, played by Chie Tanaka, took the bento in the last episode of the film, but in fact she did not die, only the third son was killed, she and her eldest son and second son hid in the corpse pile and pretended to be dead to escape the disaster, so the historical Kojima Genji only died one child, no whole family was killed.
The young man who is forced to identify the head at the end of the film is Biho Wallis of the Hogo Society (the same name as the person who was arrested), Biho Wallis is also educated in Japan, the Japanese name is Nakayama Kiyoshi, is a friend of Kojima's second son Shigeo Kojima, in the incident someone wanted to cut off his head, he fled to Docho group, was sheltered by Temuvaris, and later Kojima Genji adopted him, and later Japan arranged for Xu Ruoxuan to play the role of Takayama Hatsuko (The wife of Jiro Hanagi, later Gao Caiyun) to marry Nakayama Kiyoshi. He was also gao Yongqing, the first mayor of Ren'ai Township.
The former Maherpo, later became a hot spring area, the vicissitudes of the sea, overwhelmed by lamentations.