Formosa Betrayed, a powerful story

This can't possibly be the same film Ian Bartholemew reviewed Friday

The film Formosa Betrayed, whose screenplay amalgamates the tales of the 1980s murders of Carnegie Mellon University professor Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) and writer Henry Liu (劉宜良, AKA Chiang Nan [江南]), has been discussed publicly for almost four years, and it finally made it to general release at cinemas in Taiwan on Friday, August 6, 2010.

Yet Taipei Times movie critic Ian Bartholemew seems to think it was based upon the George Kerr book of the same name (it was not), that it was about the events surrounding the 228 Massacre (二二八大屠殺) of 1947 (even though that event -- which happened 36 years prior to our story -- is mentioned within, it's not part of the plot of this movie), and that "Retrocession" [sic] is the proper term for the occupation of Taiwan by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) (it is not).


Formosa Betrayed movie poster
outside of Taichung's Tiger City
Photo by Tim Maddog
(Click to enlarge)
I had awaited this film's arrival in Taiwan for such a long time, and having seen so many previews, reviews, and interviews, I was a little bit worried that there wouldn't be very much left for me to experience anew when I saw it in a movie theater. Fortunately, I was wrong.

Before I get to anything involving spoilers, let me tell you a few things about the movie in general.

It is what it is
So, what is Formosa Betrayed? The story centers around FBI Agent Jake Kelly (played by James van der Beek) and his search for the two gangsters who murder Taiwanese-American professor Henry Wen. The evidence brings Jake to Taiwan, where he meets waiter/independence activist Ming (明, played by Will Tiao [刁毓能], who also co-wrote and produced the movie) and uncovers more truth than his superiors ever wanted him to. The events take place in 1983, during the White Terror period and four years before the lifting of the Chinese KMT's 38-year-long imposition of martial law on Taiwan.

This is thriller
Beyond the film's historical implications (being the first American film to deal with Taiwan-US relations"), we are propelled through the story by our concern for the protagonists, Jake and Ming, by their struggles against bureaucracies, gangsters, police agencies, and even military officials, and by the hope that they will succeed and survive. It shouldn't matter if you are American, Taiwanese, or neither -- unless you hate one or both of those countries, you'll probably care for both characters, and you will feel their pain as you watch horrific events unfold.

The antagonists are everywhere. Watch the movie and see how almost every time Jake tries to do the right thing, someone delays him, finds his "target" before he does, or tries to bring him great harm. You might not even realize whether some characters are the good guys or the bad guys until near the end of the flick.

Production values
The film -- directed by Adam Kane (Heroes) and photographed by Irek Hartowicz -- has a gritty, desaturated look throughout much of it, creating an atmosphere appropriate to both the period and the content. The first image we see -- Jake's blood-splattered face in very shallow depth of field -- sets the tone for what's to follow.

The score didn't draw much attention to itself, remaining mostly way in the background except in some especially tense scenes. Two or three times during the film, I got quite a jolt from the audio-visual-story combo -- an excellent reason to see the film in a theater.

Other reviewers' complaints about the film being shot in Thailand instead of Taiwan drive me nuts. The reasons for it happening have been explained again and again, and even more detail has come out quite recently about the Chinese KMT's involvement. My wife -- Have I mentioned that she's Taiwanese? -- didn't have any complaints about the locations not looking enough like Taiwan in the eighties, so I have a hard time accepting that particular gripe.

Some of these complainers may merely wish to discredit Formosa Betrayed. Others may have unthinkingly been influenced by such thoughts and are repeating them. Whatever their reasons, it's as if everyone suddenly forgot how to suspend their disbelief for this particular motion picture. (Pssssst! You're actually sitting in a chair in an air-conditioned theater in the year 2010 in a city which may or may not be Taipei!) With the budget limitations, I would guess that telling the story took priority over adding a CGI recreation of Taipei.

So, while it may not be a state-of-the-art spectacle, it does a great job of doing what people go to the movies for: it tells a powerful story.

It ain't what it's not
Formosa Betrayed is not an allegory. It's basically a straight-up dramatization of events related to Taiwan's history -- a story which has needed to be told for a very long time. And Will Tiao, Adam Kane, and the rest of the cast and crew have done a formidable job of it.

What will I learn?
* The Chinese KMT is not protecting Taiwan from Commie bandits, and they never have.
* The United States' cooperation with the Chinese KMT ignores/involves lots and lots of evil.
* Good people standing up for basic human rights get called "gangsters" and "terrorists" by those responsible for mass murder of innocent civilians.
* Taiwan is not China, and despite frequent claims about the matter, Taiwanese are not treated like "brothers" by the Chinese.
* Others' admonitions which are supposedly "for your own good" are often ways for them to hold onto power while keeping you down.

Who should see this film?
Every single Taiwanese should see this film, whether they already know about this history or not. Anyone who has ever supported the Chinese KMT should see this film and open their eyes widely. Americans should see this film to understand what their government has done (and continues to do) to Taiwan.

If you enjoy thrillers, you should see Formosa Betrayed because it's an exciting story which, as Roger Ebert says, is "actually about something."

If you don't like mainstream Hollywood flicks, see it for its independent style.

If you don't fall into any of those categories, make like a Nike ad, and just see it!

Where to see it
I saw it at Tiger City in Taichung. Here's the page where you can find showtimes for all Vieshow Cinemas (威秀影城) in Taiwan. See it soon, as it probably won't be here for long.

Fiction vs. reality (SPOILERS)
Some people have said that the people and events portrayed in Formosa Betrayed are entirely imaginary. Those people are either lying or they're ignorant -- perhaps both. Here is a short list of some people/things in the film and the people/things they correspond to (or not) in real life:

* Wen Ming-hua (溫明華, AKA Henry Wen, the murder victim) = Chen Wen-chen + Henry Liu.
* Guy with camera at student protest = Student spies funded by the Chinese KMT.
* David Wu Da-wei + James Lee Shin-shen (the killers) = Chen Chi-li (陳啟禮) and others.
* Ming's sister, Maysing (美星): "Don't use your phone. They're listening." = Government phone tapping of political opponents/dissidents/competitors -- something which still happens quite frequently.
* The protest in Kaohsiung = The Kaohsiung Incident of 1979. (Note: Just a few months after Formosa Betrayed had completed filming, similar things happened during the protests against visiting Chinese envoy, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin [陳雲林]. including the brutal beating of an FTV [民視] reporter. Also watch Red Caution to see what happened to Taiwan in the first few months Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] was in office as president.)
* The murder of Ming's wife and daughter in their home = The murder of Lin I-hsiung's (Lîm Gī-hiông, 林義雄) family while their home was under 24-hour police surveillance.
* The way Ming's father was killed = The way many people were killed in the 228 Massacre: shot in the head and/or dumped in a river. (Others were buried alive.)
* Professor Wen and Ming being called "gangsters" and "terrorists" = A common tactic used by the gangster-affiliated Chinese KMT.
* 健康 (Health[y] brand cigarettes = The ironically-named Long Life (長壽) brand of cigarettes.
* The movie ≠ The book by George Kerr. Although it's got the same title, and it's about the same country and the same party-state, it's a different story.

Other interesting tidbits (minor SPOILERS)
* Jake is assigned Room 228 (a reference to the 228 Massacre of 1947) in his Taipei hotel.
* When Jake is at the airport leaving Taiwan, a voice is heard on the airport intercom announcing in English "China Airline[s] flight 1947 from Taipei to New York is now boarding…"

Just one thing…
As Michael Turton pointed out previously, that onscreen title at the end… it's wrong, and it should be fixed because it undermines the message the rest of the film tries so hard to get across. It says [highlight mine]:

Currently there are 23 countries that recognize Taiwan as an independent nation.

The United States is not one of them.

The problem is that the countries which have official relations with "Taiwan" recognize Taiwan as the "Republic of China" and its associated claim to represent -- y'know -- China. Because of the "one-China" policies of both the PRC and the ROC, not a single one of those countries recognize Taiwan's independence the way they should -- and that right there is the problem!

A whole spectrum of other reviews
* David Reid's review: "Formosa Betrayed: a quest for truth and justice."
* Jerome F. Keaton's review: "The Film 'Formosa Betrayed' Though Different from 'Cape No. 7' is Important for Taiwan Youth."
* Michael Turton's review: "The Gospel According to Will: Formosa Betrayed."
* Sheri Linden wrote a fair-even-if-not-entirely-postive review in The Hollywood Reporter.
* Despite the number of stars he gave it, Roger Ebert seems to have liked it.
* Ian Bartholemew wrote what could be the most uninformed movie review I've ever read.
* Does Vancouver's Katherine Monk think that watching Formosa Betrayed is as bad as being colonized and placed under nearly four decades of martial law? Her excessively negative review is titled: "Viewers are ones who are betrayed."

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MacGuffins: Taiwan, 台灣, Formosa Betrayed, 被出賣的台灣, movie, 電影, Will Tiao, 刁毓能, White Terror, 白色恐怖, martial law, 戒嚴

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

Open Letter from the producer of Formosa Betrayed

Putting Taiwan in the spotlight

Will Tiao, the producer of the film "Formosa Betrayed" (被出賣的台灣), which is being released across the United States today, sent this around [emphasis mine]:

Dear Friends,

This weekend, February 26-28, a new movie about Taiwan will be coming to theaters. Formosa Betrayed is the first American film to ever deal with US-Taiwan relations and explore the issues of democracy, identity, and justice during the White Terror period in Taiwan. The movie was largely funded by Taiwanese all over the United States and Canada, who invested over $6 million into the film. This makes Formosa Betrayed one of the largest pro-Taiwan projects ever funded by the overseas Taiwanese community. Most of these investors are not wealthy -- they are hard working individuals who came to America to provide a better life for their children.

I am one of those children.

My parents are from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. While growing up, they taught me to call myself "Taiwanese," not "Chinese." This caused them much hardship, which included being put on a blacklist. Some of their friends had worse things happen to them. In some cases, people were killed.

The Taiwanese people have suffered at the hands of many over the last century, but these stories have rarely been told or heard. As a second generation Taiwanese American, I feel it is my duty to educate my generation, as well as the world, about the struggles and suffering of the Taiwanese. We cannot allow Taiwan's history and its people's hardships to be forgotten. Once that happens, it only becomes a matter of time before these atrocities are repeated. This is precisely why I dedicated the last five years of my life to bringing the story of Formosa Betrayed to the world.

As the turbulent reaction to President Obama's recent arms sale to Taiwan shows, US-China-Taiwan relations is still a touchy subject that is greeted by fleeting interest, faint support, or --perhaps worst of all-- indifference by the American media. I am hoping the release of Formosa Betrayed will help spur greater awareness and wider discussion about these important matters in the United States and abroad. This is why I am urging you to see Formosa Betrayed this weekend with your friends and family -- to enlighten them about Taiwan's embattled legacy and its struggle for democracy.

Thank you for your time and interest.


All the best,

Will Tiao
President, Formosa Films
Producer, Formosa Betrayed

Remember that this film is based upon important real events in Taiwan's history, and do everything within your power to see it.

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Daily rushes: Taiwan, 台灣, open letter, 公開信, Formosa Betrayed, 被出賣的台灣, White Terror, 白色恐怖, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

George Kerr vs. Robert Ross et al

Formosa continually betrayed
Fellow blogger Michael Turton alerted me earlier today to a pure propaganda piece disguised as a Forbes Magazine "Special Report." Within this filially pious "report," author Robert Ross kisses the asses of China and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) until everything above his shoulders is brown. Turton tears Ross a new one with his own analysis:

Wow. Among the hundreds of articles on Taiwan I have discussed on this blog over the last couple of years, this piece of dreck from Robert Ross, For China, How To Manage Taiwan?, represents the absolute nadir of writing on the island and its future in a major media publication.

[...]

[...] it flows like sewage going downhill [...]

[...]

In [Ross'] la-la land, Chen Shui-bian provokes; missiles and threats do not. [...]

[...]

[W]hy should China turn its propaganda machine on Taiwan, when it has Robert Ross to do its work for them? [...]

[...]

[...] Ross simply reproduces the standard China/KMT line on Taiwan politics [...]

[...]

Ross again reproduces standard KMT propaganda -- the "polls" are all pro-KMT media polls [...]

[...]

Ross simply takes the Chinese position. [...]

[...]

Above all, Ross accepts that it is OK for a Communist dictatorship to suppress a democracy. What more can be said after that?

This is a very sick article. Please take a moment and write in to Forbes: readers@forbes.com

Indeed, it's a sick article, and I strongly encourage readers who care about Taiwan to take a careful look at it and write to Forbes about the many distortions and outright falsehoods within.

Clairvoyant critique?
More than 40 years ago, in his book Formosa Betrayed (被出賣的台灣), George Kerr noted how this kind of Chinese propaganda was achieved here in Taiwan (still known as Formosa at the time of the book's writing) in the early days of KMT occupation. These excerpts are from pp. 153-7 (pp. 170-4 in the PDF version, pp. 164-7 in the Mandarin translation):

[...] The world had changed, the United States Government and people were entering upon the long cold war of words, ideas, and human emotions.

We were reminded soon enough of this when we began to see the pattern of Chinese reaction to the presence of prying, spying foreigners on Formosa.

Chinese Reaction to Foreign Critics:
"Getting the Facts Straight"

Chen Yi's men resented the presence of foreigners, for it gave them a double task. On the one hand they had to persuade the world overseas that despite occasional unfriendly news reports, they were doing a magnificent job, rehabilitating the economy and leading the Formosans back from Japanese servitude to full and happy membership in the democracy of China.

On the other hand, they had to undermine and destroy, if they could, the high prestige of Americans on Formosa, and the emotional trust with which Formosans were turning to foreigners with tales of woe. [...]

[...] And what if unfriendly press notices abroad prompted the United States Congress to demand an investigation?

Anticipating this challenge, Chen Yi reorganized the Provincial Government Information Service. All references to the "provisional" character of the local government began to disappear from official and unofficial documents and from public statements. All foreign visitors - and especially American visitors - were smothered with evidence of progress, presented by men who knew how to flatter Americans. Steps were soon taken to lower American prestige among the Formosans and to discredit Formosans in the eyes of foreigners overseas. [Maddog note: This is precisely the type of "ethnic divisiveness" (族群分裂) that the KMT constantly accuses the DPP of currently.] Something had to be done to check this dangerous talk of local appeals to the United States or the United Nations.

A graduate in journalism from the University of Missouri (Stanway Cheng, M.A., '37) was placed in charge. Huang Chao-chin (M.A., Illinois, '26) became "Foreign Affairs Representative" or front man. The Central News Agency of China opened a Formosa office on March 16. A private, confidential press-clipping wire-service in Cheng's office kept the Governor's men abreast of published American comment on Formosan affairs.

Visiting Congressmen, the Administration's agents, and other unwary guests who came to Taipei were at once taken in hand by Cheng and Huang or their deputies, to be given flattering V.I.P. treatment. For visiting "fact-finders" it was a great convenience to be handed up-to-date statistical summaries which could be read at any time on the homeward journey. These made tedious on-the-spot investigations unnecessary, and left time for delightful suburban tours, hotspring outings and gargantuan Chinese feasts. Over-crowded scheduling for the visitors ensured a maximum insulation from reality and prevented any unfortunate straying from well-marked paths. [Maddog note: Actual walls are currently being built in Beijing to ensure the same thing with Olympic visitors.] If a visitor insisted upon talking to Formosans there was always ex-Mayor Huang, a native of the island, and Chairman of the People's Political Councils, to satisfy their curiosity. Delays in transportation, far from Taipei, or mechanical difficulties with cars within the city became standard means of forestalling undue meetings with independent and articulate Formosans or long conferences at the American Consulate. Creating insulation for visitors was a fine art, pursued by talented men.

Manipulation of the news to show "progress under Chen Yi," and America's hearty support of the Chen Yi regime is illustrated in this example, published in Taipei, which purports to have originated in Washington:

GREAT IMPROVEMENT IN REHABILITATION ON FORMOSA AS TOLD BY RETURNING U.S. ECONOMIC OFFICERS

(UP) Washington, Aug. 5, Relayed by Central News Agency.
United States economic officers [Maddog note: unnamed] who have just returned from a tour of the Far East do not fall in with the general belief that the Chinese administration on the island of Formosa is inadequate and that there has been large-scale looting and ransacking.

They saw marked improvement in rehabilitation work in the regions they visited where the Chinese Government seemed to be exercising an adequate management of all industries and local affairs with every possible technical assistance available.

Except those who were retained as technical experts and their families, totalling about 28,000, all Japanese on the island have been duly repatriated. [2]

The Newton articles were not forgotten. To smother unfavorable impressions created by one man's dispatches, Chen's Information Office invited twenty-six correspondents to spend the week of August 31-September 6 on Formosa, with lavish entertainment and all expenses paid.

The bona fide correspondents knew that their press credentials for long-term work on the mainland might be lifted if they were too outspoken. They could merely hint that all was not well. For example, Ronald Stead of the Christian Science Monitor wrote that "Chinese Government officials and Taiwan provincial administrators say the number of dissidents is very few. So far our time has been so occupied in eating our way down and up the island, receiving the most lavish hospitality everywhere, but making only a wide, superficial inspection, that there has been little time to weigh the situation."

A few foreigners were assumed to be well-paid agents hired to steer the group toward a proper understanding and reportage of Chinese achievements on Formosa, and some frankly confessed (privately) that they were "free-loaders" professing assignments -fictitious or self-devised - from local papers in the United States. Temporary press cards had been issued to them at Shanghai.

Transients could be handled by Chen Yi's agents with marked success, but the presence of UNRRA and Consular people remained always a problem. In a move to concentrate the foreigners' evening activities at one spot, Cheng and the Information Service arranged (behind the scenes) to open the Lucky Bar, thoughtfully designed to appeal to American patronage. Here the Chinese Information Service could keep abreast of day-to-day affairs within the foreign community.

I had doubted the accuracy of the report which told of the origins of the Lucky Bar, but one summer evening, after drinks and dinner at my house, the mysterious Admiral S. Y. Leigh (T. V. Soong's man, Li Tsu-i) asked me why I never went to the Lucky Bar, adding, indiscreetly, that whenever he wanted to know what Americans thought of the situation in Formosa he simply went to the Bar and took the booth next to that habitually occupied by the American Consul, his wife, and their friends, or sat near the favorite booths and tables of the UNRRA members drifting in and out.*

* Thus in the Lucky Bar we had the forerunner of Madame Chiang's clubs, The Officers' Moral Endeavour Association (OMEA), a series of hostelries which catered to foreign correspondents, businessmen, diplomatic service underlings, and minor military observers, all taken in at a distinctly favorable rate. To the charitable OMEA establishment there were added in due course the Friends of China Club, the Taipei Guest House, and the Grand Hotel, all of them listening posts - Lucky Bars - on a grander scale, befitting the "temporary capital of China."

Is Robert Ross merely one of the "unwary guests" mentioned above, or is he something of a more sinister nature? It would be a rather difficult stretch of the imagination to believe he could be among the "bona fide" correspondents -- or anything close, for that matter.

Through an RSS reader, darkly
This is good description of the type of lens through which I have long viewed people like Ross, Keith Bradsher, Mike Chinoy, Edward Cody, Peter Enav, Caroline Gluck, Kathrin Hille, Jane Rickards, and so many others when it comes to writing about Taiwan and many other subjects. I hope that you, too, will question what you read even more deeply from this point onward.

RELATED LINKS:
* George Kerr's Formosa Betrayed [PDF, 1.1 MB]
* Alternate link to Formosa Betrayed (Note: The file you will see there is a zipped PDF -- not a video file. Click/Right-click the book cover, download the file to your hard drive, decompress it, and get ready for some heavy reading.)
* Michael Turton's earlier takedown of Ross' schizophrenic manifestations: "Taiwan's Fading Independence Movement? Or Robert Ross' Fading Understanding?"
* My video of the supposedly "unpopular" Chen Shui-bian at the "915 UN for Taiwan" rally in Kaohsiung, September 15, 2007.

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Marred surfaces: Taiwan, 台灣, media, 媒體, George Kerr, 柯喬治, Formosa Betrayed, 被出賣的台灣, propaganda, 宣傳, Robert Ross

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!