Given China's ongoing interest in the island and its unknowable future, this historical backstory behind current events is welcome indeed.

At times, Warriors sacrifices dramatic nuance for scale, but even its most rousing passages are tempered by a sense of loss.

You can see why Woo, the noted Hong Kong action director, would want to produce it: It fits right in with his "heroic bloodshed" cinematic legacy.

"Seediq Bale" is a true epic, a rather impressive movie that retains the interest for the whole of the 4,5 hours of its two parts, and an excellent portrait of a relatively unknown part of Asian history.