Tuesday, September 15, 2009

What Do You Know About Taiwan?

Last night at the Newseum the Formosa Foundation hosted an invite-only Congressional screening of “Formosa Betrayed,” starring James Van Der Beek as Agent Jake Kelly. This low-budget independent feature takes a highly complicated international murder scenario and removes the superficial glam but keeps the production quality. Some attendees were a part of the true events on which this film is based. For the rest of us, this film brought some truths to light for the first time in history. It also stirred the question, what do you know about Taiwan?

As with “The Last King of Scotland,” “Formosa Betrayed” combines real life characters and real events and twists them into a suspenseful political thriller. The challenge with “Formosa,” however, is that the audience has no historical knowledge of these events, or at least only an awareness of information “sanctioned” by governments as suitable to publish. Having to build in both a history lesson and a current events update gave these filmmakers an extra storytelling challenge. All of the script writers rose to the occasion with excellence. After four years of research, producer Will Tiao, who describes himself as “a creature of D.C.,” has produced a must-see film – not just because it’s entertaining, but because it’s a story that should not be suppressed any longer.

Imagine if Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, etc. had all been locked up in a room and killed just before the American Revolution. This is, in a sense, what happened in Taiwan in 1947. The intellectual leaders of Taiwan were assassinated by the Chinese government. To this day, it has been illegal to speak or write about what happened. So in the film, when a Taiwanese professor of economics in the U.S. starts to write a tell-all book, government insiders have him killed on the campus where he has just made tenure. (The professor's fictional character is based on several real life characters, one of whom was a professor at Carnegie Mellon who was murdered in Pennsylvania.)

His murder launches and investigation by the FBI, which sends Agent Kelly to Taiwan under strict orders to “observe and report.” His senior colleague Agent Tom Braxton, played by John Heard (Sopranos, Pelican Brief), turns down the chance to work on the case landing Kelly in a Lone Ranger role. Without knowing the language or understanding the local culture, he is forced to rely heavily on a U.S. liaison, played by Wendy Crewson, with a hidden agenda. Even though Agent Kelly is an outsider, the local investigator's claim that the professor’s murder is connected with mob ties seems preposterous. Using the same reckless abandon that earns Westerners the label of “cowboy” overseas, he begins to follow his own leads putting his life and those helping him in grave danger.

Historical facts that would normally be alluded to in one or two lines, must now take up several scenes and lines of almost pedantic dialogue just to inform the viewer about the Taiwan's desire for independence from China. The passion behind this plea is pivotal to the plot. If outsiders learn more about what the Republic of China has been keeping secret, the two million Chinese who control the 18 million Taiwanese on that small, humid island, just might lose their position. The threat of this loss is so high that China has, in reality, 1,000 missiles pointed right at Taiwan.

In the film, the U.S. State Department plays a strictly “hands off” role in aiding the investigation, when, in real life (at least according to the representative at the screening), a much more complicated and adversarial role was taken. While some liberties with facts had to be taken, overall the film successfully tells a powerfully moving story. It also keeps the viewer emotionally involved while putting together a Rubik’s cube of background information. The movie reveals the motives of the professor’s murder while keeping the torture and deaths of those trying to unofficially aide the investigation on a personal level.

Without the hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on marketing the film, “Formosa Betrayed” will not be showing in a theater near you. The marketing efforts are viral however, and if enough requests pour in to local theaters, film festivals and even universities, you could probably get your own viewing. Maybe then more of us will ask why 23 countries recognize Taiwan’s independence but the U.S. does not.

Watch the trailer on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KbAGhECVZE

9 comments:

  1. Excellent review, only one exaggeration. Formosa Films does not need 100s of millions of US dollars to market the film; 1 or 2 million would get it in the theatrical door, but we didn't raise that target P&A pot of gold in time. Now, we definitely need to go viral to get the word out and allow the demand to be generated.

    Your review is about to go viral.

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  2. Nice review! Just FYI, the professor from Carnegie Mellon in Pennsylvania was not killed there, but while back in Taiwan visiting with his wife and newborn son.

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  3. nice review!! though point reflecting back to Jon-the stories told were "inspired" by real events hence not historical facts and real characters. The truth has been gradually spoken of since the lifting of the martial law, though obviously more is to be found. let's hope more requests pour in for a wider audience!

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  4. I'm looking forward to seeing this movie to better spread the word about it among my out-of-the-taiwan-loop friends and networks.

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  5. Thank you for your review! It's great to see people outside the Taiwanese community interested and invested in these issues. Your support is appreciated!

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  6. Great review!!

    In regard to Jon's comment.

    That's the type of problem I have with all movies that are "inspired by real events". There will almost always be some deviation from the truth for plot reasons. It tends to devalue the truth, IMHO.

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  7. 以為久遠的歷史的真實性要用稗官野史來補充可能發生過的事物 經過了如此久遠的年代 都無從證實的 歴史的事或物到底孰非孰是己經不是那麼重要了 讀史不過吸取前人古事之經驗罷了 然而僅僅發生在30年前的事呢 和我們息息相關了 在如今資訊高度發展的社會 想必都應該正確無誤了吧?

    不然!
    四年級生對發生在民國七十年 美國卡基美隆大學的台灣人教授陳文成 死於台大校園一事應該都還記憶猶新吧 無從置疑的 那麼出生在民國七十年以後的後生難道就也應該把這件事看成無從考據的歷史事件? 文獻具存 谷歌此事不過彈指煙灰之事 懶人或是無腦之輩則令人厭矣

    讀一文 有關 電影 ”被出賣的臺灣“ 之觀後感 有兩段 實在離譜 分析以下

    Without the hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on marketing the film

    這是什么跟什么的邏輯? 電影史上請問有那部好萊塢的電影公司曾花費數億美金為任何一部電影打廣告? 此乃無腦之論

    又一句

    The professor's fictional character is based on several real life characters, one of whom was a professor at Carnegie Mellon who was murdered in Pennsylvania

    沒吃過豬肉也應該看過豬跑吧 沒常識就要看點電視 逛點夜市 谷歌何其簡單 一秒鐘也不要就可以找到答案 白目莫過于此 那是陳文成教授慘死臺大校園 賓州只是陳教授從事教職 卡耐基美隆大學之所而已 睜眼說瞎話 如果此文為新聞系之課業 F 是唯一的後果

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  8. Thanks for your comments. Since I've had several questions about the marketing budget for films, I wanted to add this: In 2007, the average marketing budget for a theatrical release (that's one film) from a major Hollywood studio was $35.9 million [source: Motion Picture Association of America].

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