Available on DVD: “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale”

Based on the true story of a 1930 uprising (the Wushe Incident) by the Taiwanese aboriginal tribe Seediq against its Japanese military occupiers, Warriors of the Rainbow is bloody and overlong, but has great heart and an interesting insight into the cultural traditions of the Seediq, an indigenous people who have struggled for rights much like American Indian tribes. Many of the actors in the films are actual aboriginal tribespeople.

The spine of the film is the elder but virile chief Mouna Rudo (Lin Ching-Tai, an Aborigine making a magnetic acting debut), who leads the revolt that massacred more than 130 Japanese, but ultimately cost the lives of more than 1,000 Seediq.

The original version ran about 4½ hours; at 2½ hours, the international version shown here seems a bit much. But it has commitment and style, and you can see why John Woo, the noted Hong Kong action director, would want to produce it: It fits right in with his "heroic bloodshed" cinematic legacy.