Minister says film on Lin family murders 'tramples on' Taiwan's history

Taipei, Feb. 8 (CNA) Culture Minister Li Yuan (李遠) on Sunday accused an as-yet-unreleased film about the unsolved 1980 murders of then-dissident Lin I-hsiung's (林義雄) family of "trampling on Taiwan's history and its people."

Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Li described the portrayal of the massacre in "The Century Bloodshed" (世紀血案) as "extremely inappropriate."

Calling it one of "Taiwan's most painful historical tragedies," Li said the cold case should not be reinterpreted at will and warned that distorted portrayals could "undermine transitional justice."

From a legal perspective, Li noted that the production did not obtain the consent of Lin or his family, and that the actors may also have been misled, raising serious legal concerns.

He added that transitional justice has been difficult to advance because society has long failed to fully understand the truth, leading to a diluted understanding of major historical events among the next generation.

Li said that the Lin family murders hold extremely important significance in Taiwan's history and should not be interpreted casually.

Asked about rumors that the film has Chinese backers, Li said he could not be certain. However, he noted that the production team previously made "The Shooting of 319" (幻術), a work he described as showing "extreme disdain and belittlement toward Taiwanese people."

"I was very angry after watching it [The Shooting of 319]," Li said. "Judging by their motives for this [newest] film, if it is actually made, I fully believe it will once again trample on and harm the Taiwanese people, while showing contempt for and rewriting our history."

The 2019 political suspense film was adapted from the high-profile shooting incident that saw an assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) while they were campaigning in Tainan on March 19, 2004, the day before Taiwan's presidential election.

An unsolved crime of decades

Lin I-hsiung's mother and 6-year-old twin daughters were killed at their Taipei home on Feb. 28, 1980, while Lin was imprisoned over the pro-democracy Kaohsiung Incident. The perpetrators have never been identified.

According to the Chinese-language Mirror Media, which cited a leaked script, the plot of "The Century Bloodshed" suggests that another dissident orchestrated the killings as an act of political revenge.

While this was one of the lines of inquiry initially pursued by investigators, the Transitional Justice Commission described the theory as "flawed" in a 2020 report, saying it was based on "false assumptions" that "cannot be established at all and should not continue to guide investigative direction."

The report also said authorities failed to properly investigate how the crime could have occurred while the Lin residence was under constant government surveillance.

It added that investigators did not seriously examine whether the crime was ordered by the then-Kuomintang government or carried out by rogue personnel -- flaws that narrowed the investigation from the outset and led to missed chances to solve the case.

Following the public backlash, one of the film's stars, 71-year-old Kou Shih-hsun (寇世勳), issued a public apology to the Lin family for what he described as his lack of understanding of how historical trauma can cause "secondary harm."

Kou said that, due to the limitations of his upbringing and environment, he had overlooked how, under an authoritarian system, a person's background is inseparable from the prevailing ideology.

He also admitted that he had underestimated the potential for the script to introduce bias or guide interpretation when portraying real events.

"In the future, I will urge myself to gain a more comprehensive understanding of historical truths and humbly learn about the social responsibility an actor must bear when portraying subjects related to historical trauma," the veteran actor said.

He urged the film's producers to halt further production and distribution until "proper authorization" is obtained.