Leading Taiwanese independence advocates mingled with non-profit organization members and film critics on Monday night in Taipei at the premiere of the political thriller Formosa Betrayed (被出賣的台灣), the first Hollywood movie set during Taiwan’s White Terror period.
Told through the eyes of fictional FBI agent Jake Kelly, played by former teen drama star James Van Der Beek, the story takes a look at Taiwan’s struggle for independence in the context of the real-life murders of Carnegie Mellon professor Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) and journalist Henry Liu (劉宜良) in the 1980s.
Directed by Taiwanese-American Will Tiao (刁毓能), the movie opened in February in the US and is expected to make its way to Taiwanese theaters in August. While the film says it is inspired by historical events, viewers said it drew very close parallels with actual incidents.
Speaking after the premiere at Vieshow theaters in Taipei City, former foreign minister Mark Chen (陳唐山) called the movie “an accurate portrayal of the time period and Taiwan’s struggle for democracy — it’s the story of one of the darkest chapters in Taiwan’s history.”
The US$10 million film, financed largely through fundraising from Taiwanese communities in the US, depicted Taiwan still under martial law with heavy-handed police crackdowns on pro-independence rallies. Activists are subject to murder and torture in the film.
Leading a group of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) staffers to the film, DPP Director of International Affairs Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) praised the film saying that it shed light on Taiwan’s democracy movement.
“The movie tells the world about Taiwan’s efforts toward democratization,” Hsiao said.
She added that the movie plays a role in helping an international audience understand the historical background of cross-strait relations.
“It lets the world know that Taiwan is not the troublemaker … all we wanted was democracy and human rights,” she said.
One of the fictional events in the film, a large democracy rally broken up by military police in Kaohsiung City bears striking similarities to the Kaohsiung Incident of 1979, which historians say played a major part in bringing about democracy in the country and ultimately led to the formation of the DPP.
Speaking on behalf of Tiao prior to the film, one of the producers, Lin Ren-hui (林仁惠), said the film aimed to keep people from forgetting Taiwan’s history but also to help Taiwan become a more democratic and free country.
Former Examination Yuan president Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) said that given Taiwan’s long struggle for human rights and freedom, the producers should consider a sequel.
“It’s a good movie, but it did not cover the entire scope of the [democracy] movement. Hopefully … this can be covered in a sequel,” he said.
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