When I visited Taiwan, one of the national holidays I learned about was 2-28 (February 28th). For people living in Taiwan, this date is could be compared to December 7th 1941 for Americans. It is certainly a day of infamy. For Taiwan, 2-28 has also been a day that, for some time, was unremembered. This day (and the reasons it was for a time forgotten) is the subject of the recent movie "Formosa Betrayed" from writer Will Tiao and director Adam Kane.
The 2-28 holiday is a bitter and controversial memorial for the Taiwanese (between 10,000 and 20,000) who died during an uprising against Chiang Kaishek's and Chen Yi's KMT government. The KMT came to power in Taiwan following the Japanese defeat in World War II. Japan was forced to hand over control of the island as a condition of their surrender. In contrast to the relative progress the Taiwanese enjoyed under Japanese control, the KMT government basically used Taiwan's assets to fund it's fight against Mao's communist army. This resulted in Taiwan's economic collapse and inevitable social and political unrest. On Feburary 28th 1947, Taiwanese leaders began to push back against the KMT, openly protesting against the KMT. The government responded by killing unarmed protesters, hunting down and assassinating Taiwanese leaders, and beginning a long period (roughly 40 years) of martial law during which time the KMT imprisoned anyone thought to be conspiring against them. During this time, Taiwanese people were forbidden to discuss the events surrounding 2-28.
"Formosa Betrayed" uses the framework of a crime drama/political thriller to provide the audience (what the filmmakers assume will be a non-Taiwanese audience) with a history lesson about the "White Terror" – the period of KMT rule during which time 2-28 was an illegal subject and political dissidents were tracked down and jailed by the military. The movie also provides a brief history of the 2-28 incident itself, althought much of the detail is left out or abbreviated. James van der Beek (making his transition into adulthood) is appropriately cast as a relatively green FBI agent thrust into an impossible political situation that sets his job and his convictions at odds. Shot in a low budget and slightly grainy style, the movie feels very much as if it were filmed in 1983, the year the movie is set. Unfortunately (but understandably) the movie's Taipei scenes were filmed in Thailand.
I had read mixed reviews of the movie and I'm glad to say it was better than I anticipated. The movie is definitely a history lesson first and a political thriller second; however, it was very well constructed and executed. The performances are very good and the filmmakers did not succumb to the Hollywood habit of neatly tying off every lose end. My fiancee and I left the theater wondering about the fate of a few characters and speculating as to the true motives of others.
Martial law in Taiwan formally ended in 1987. My fiancee was 11, old enough to remember but perhaps not old enough to understand the significance. She doesn't have much memory of White Terror, although it appears that, in the years following Chiang Kaishek's death, the KMT government had relaxed its position on political dissent.