Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale

‘Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale’, the most popular Taiwanese film released last year, is a unique beast. In the first glance, it looks like a typical action picture, highlighting the fight between the Taiwanese indigenous tribe called the Seediq, and the imperial Japanese forces in the island in the 1930s. However, beneath these scenes of death and decapitation, the film also portrays the rich, organic world of the Seediq tribe and their nationalistic pride.

The Seediq myth believes in the afterlife where they would meet their ancestors beyond the rainbow bridge. But there is a condition. A Seediq man must kill to prove his worth, his hands must have blood, and when, after his death, he reaches the rainbow bridge, his ancestors would look at his hand and will see the blood and allow him the entry. He’d then become the “Seediq Bale”.

Towards the end of the film, as the tribe, under the leadership of their chief Muana Rudo, attacks the imperialists, and a long battle ensues (reminds you of Roland Joffe’s magnificent ‘The Mission’), the soundtrack plays a Seediq folk song, highlighting the motto of the Seediq life… (While we know Japan’s fascination for death, this film offers another glimpse of another tribe’s fascination for afterlife…)

Here’s the song copied from the film’s subtitle file.

(Oh, my children, I know)
(In those passionate days)
(You've learned a song)
(To sing for the soon-be-forgotten ancestral spirit)
(Every note tightly embraces our ancestors' spirits)
(The pride of your souls is like lightning in the clouds)
(No enemy dares to gaze at it)
(But my children!)
(Your hatred darkens the heaven and the earth)
(The distant stars are nowhere to be seen)
(Oh, see how the stars are dimming)
(My children!)
(The chilling light reflected off the tips of your machetes)
(Makes the moon seem pale as wax )
(The bloodstain on the tips of your machetes)
(Keeps the night fire burning bright)
Someone's here!
(Listen, children!)
(The sound drifting down from the forest)
(ls it the sigh of our ancestors' spirits?)
(Or is it the sigh of the wind?)
(Listen, children!)
(That sobbing flowing down the Jhuoshuei River)
(ls it our ancestors' spirits weeping?)
(Or is it the clouds crying?)
(Oh, my children!)
(Oh, my children!)
(Look! The world keeps shivering)
(Look! The bark of Pusu Qhuni is peeling off)
(Touch your bloodstained hands)
(Can they still hold the sand from our hunting grounds?)
(Touch your angry forehead)
(Can a beautiful rainbow bridge still be spread out over it?)
(Touch your uneasy mouth)
(Can it still speak in all four seasons?)
(Oh, my children! Do you know?)
(All the pinecones have broken in the wind)
(The teary moon stops you from walking towards death)
(The gloomy clouds cannot shelter the sadness)
(That's sailing towards the dim starlight)
(Oh, my children! Do you know?)
(Time is light as a flame)
(That lights up the stars in your souls)
(Your dreams are vast like a blue ocean)
(But the joyous tears in your souls have dried out)
(Oh, my children! Do you know?)
(Your hatred darkens the heaven and the earth)
(The distant stars are nowhere to be seen)
(Oh, see how the stars are dimming)
(My children!)
(The chilling light reflected
(Makes the moon seem pale as wax )
(The bloodstain on the tips of your machetes)
(Keeps the night fire burning bright)
(Listen, children!)
(The sound drifting down from the forest)
(ls it the sigh of our ancestors' spirits?)
(Or is it the sigh of the wind?)
(Listen, children!)
(That sobbing flowing down the Jhuoshuei River)
(ls it our ancestors' spirits weeping?)
(ls it our ancestors' spirits weeping?)
(Or is it the clouds crying?)
(Oh, my children!)
(Oh, my children!)
(Look! The world keeps shivering)
(Look! The reddened earth is silent)
(Look! The bark of Pusu Qhuni is peeling off)
(Touch your bloodstained hands)
(Can they still hold the sand from our hunting grounds?)
(Touch your angry forehead)
(Can a beautiful rainbow bridge still be spread out over it?)
(Touch your uneasy mouth)
(Can it still speak in all four seasons?)
(Oh, my children! Do you know?)
(All the pinecones have broken in the wind)
(The teary moon stops you from walking towards death)
(The gloomy clouds cannot shelter the sadness)
(That's sailing towards the dim starlight)
(Oh, my children! Do you know?)
(Time is light as a flame)
(That lights up the stars in your souls)
(Your dreams are vast like a blue ocean)
(But the joyous tears in your souls have dried out)
(Oh, my children! Do you know?)
(How much pain do you swallow to sing the song of our ancestral spirit?)
(How much shame do you swallow to speak what you want to say?)
(How much regret do you swallow to fulfill your dreams?)
(Oh, children! What's wrong with you?)
(Oh, my children! What exactly is wrong with you?)