About the Movie, Fomosa Betrayed

Last year I found the story below on the www.forumosa.com website but I probably read it first in my hard copy of the Formosa Foundation Newsletter (to download the particular issue, click here). I've been wanting to post it to this blog for a long time, forgetting that it had come from the Formosa Foundation Newsletter. However, the folks at Forumosa (not a Taiwanese friendly site, to say the least) insisted that they would do nothing about an offensive video loop and comments I did not want to subject my referrals to, that was next to the Forumosa post of interest. The video loop is an icon for a Forumosa.com user called "cake", who apparently is a Night Market Cop., in case you want to look him up. "Cake" copied the text from Formosa Foundation Newsletter without attribution. In this post I'm making proper attribution and avoiding that offensive video.

The story below is actually a portion of a five page story titled, Hollywood Goes Taiwanese:
Major Motion Picture Formosa Stars James Van Der Beek.

The movie is now called Fromosa Betrayed. Formosa Films, LLC considered changing the name to Formosa, but that was short lived. See Formosa Foundation, Volumi III, Summer 2008 for the story below in its context. See the official website for the movie Formosa Betrayed here http://www.formosathemovie.com/ .

History:

Many Hollywood films have tried to shine a light on Chinese culture and politics for American audiences, though none has yet to do so from Taiwan’s unique political perspective. While films such as Red Corner, The Last Emperor, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, are among the most well-known American films dealing with Chinese culture, those movies did not deal specifically with the political and social issues facing Taiwan and America.

Formosa Betrayed will enlighten a global audience on the real story behind Taiwan’s political history, by focusing on the tragic murder of a Taiwanese professor who was killed solely for his courage to speak out for an independent and democratic Taiwan.

Based on actual events which happened to Taiwanese professors and graduate students throughout the United States in the 1970s and 80s, Formosa Betrayed will expose for the first time the brutal techniques that the Nationalist Chinese Government on Taiwan used to quell dissent in their desire to reunite Taiwan with mainland China.

Most people outside of Taiwan and China are unaware of the history surrounding Taiwan’s political status. Formosa Betrayed will be the first opportunity for a mass audience to get a glimpse into the human story behind Taiwan’s struggle for identity on a world stage.

Story:

Formosa Betrayed is a feature film detailing the murder investigation of a Taiwanese-American professor at a Midwestern college in the early 1980s. The detective assigned to the case is a young FBI agent looking forward to an exciting career serving the United States government. However, he must solve the case before he can move on.

In his search for the murderers and their accomplices, the agent learns that there is a student spy network which focuses on the political and social activities of Chinese and Taiwanese-American students on the campus. He discovers that these “student spies” are ubiquitous on college campuses in the United States where there are Chinese and Taiwanese students.

His search for the killers takes him to Taiwan, where he learns that the suspects are members of the Chinese Mafia who have been hired by the Nationalist Chinese Government in Taiwan to silence political dissidents. He discovers that the true reason for the professor's murder was to silence an outspoken advocate of Taiwanese democracy and independence, and thus he was seen as a threat to the legitimacy of the government on Taiwan – a key U.S. ally. The hit was sanctioned by those at the highest level of power.

In his efforts to bring the killers and their accomplices to justice, he finds himself on a collision course with the U.S. State Department, the Chinese Mafia, and ultimately the highest levels of the Nationalist Chinese Government in Taiwan. In the meantime, he is aided by a mysterious woman who is tied to the Taiwanese Independence Movement and by others with competing agendas.

In the end, the detective begins to understand the complex nature of politics, identity, and power in Taiwan-U.S.-China relations – and how this relationship affects the lives and destinies of the citizens of all three countries – including his own.

Links to Reviews, et al:

New York Times Online Reviews
IMDb Listing
The Movie Trailer on YouTube
Formosa Betrayed Tagged Page

The Cost of Freedom

After almost three months of no posts I finally break the silence with this.

Eric Odom sent the story below in a message to members of the Facebook Group "American Liberty Alliance." All I did was give it a title. The text is attributed to an unnamed sender of an email message to Eric.

The Cost of Freedom = Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over his home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The Redcoats jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the
protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." They gave you and me a free and independent America.

The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free!