Review: The Flowers of War (15)

The Flowers of War might just be the movie of the year, which is ironic given that Bale is currently starring in The Dark Knight Rises, which many are claiming deserves that title. Certainly this outing for Bale streams with authenticity and heart.

And with Bale at the core of the tale it offers up a mesmeric take on a historical event that, even now, chills the blood.

Set in Nanking in 1937 Zhang Yimou’s multi-layered epic – it runs to 140-plus minutes – focuses on John Miller (Bale), a mortician tasked with preparing a priest for burial. His visit coincides with Japan’s capture of Nanking and the devastation that followed.

Soon Miller finds himself attempting to lead a rag-tag band of convent girls and prostitutes to safety as Japanese soldiers rape and pillage their way through what’s left of the city.

This sprawling account of a jaw-dropping atrocity needs a Hollywood A-lister to reach international audiences, and Bale doesn’t disappoint. However his personal journey from cynical adventurer to a hero capable of remarkable self-sacrifice smacks of cliché, just as the Japanese troops are portrayed as savages. The film would benefit from an injection of subtlety.

The milieu takes Bale back to the days of 1987’s Empire of the Sun, another brave (though somewhat muted) depiction of Japanese cruelty. The Flowers of War does not hold back from pointing history’s finger of admonishment, yet it allows viewers’ imaginations to chronicle what is happening to ordinary men and women. It’s the stuff that nightmares are made of.

A huge hit in China, one has to mull over what modern Japan thinks of The Flowers of War. Some revisionists claim it never happened. Needless to say it is a history lesson that needs telling, and a courageous one, ranking alongside Lu Chuan’s City of Life and Death as the ultimate portrayal of this particular war crime.

On staggered release