Director: Yimou, Zhang
Release Time: 16th December, 2011
Starring: 

• Christian Bale as John Miller
• Nini as Yu Mo
• Atsuro Watable as Colonel Hasegawa
• Shigeo Kobayashi as Lieutenant Kato
• Takashi Yamanaka as Lieutenant Asakura

It is said that The Flower of War is the most expensive Chinese war movie that touches upon the sensitive topic in Chinese history. The story is set in the year 1973, during the Nanking Massacre in which Nanking city was at the forefront of the war between China and Japan. As the Japanese army was gradually taking control over the whole of eastern China, desperate civilians were seeking refuge in many churches and cathedrals. John Miller (played by Christian Bale), an American mortician summoned to Nanking, was trapped in the midst of the war. He became the unlikely protector of a group of female students and 13 Chinese prostitutes. Yu Mo, the leader of the prostitutes, knew that the students would become Japanese soldiers’ sexual target if they could not find a way to escape. Miller arrived on the scene as a self-centred mortician who wanted to swipe some money from the cathedral and then leave as soon as possible. But as the school girls and prostitutes came to the cathedral for shelter, Miller finally gives in to his inner feeling of responsibility and poses as the convent’s priest when the cathedral was frequently visited by the Japanese soldiers looking for girls.

A bit similar to Schindlers’ List, the film is a story of redemption where the young students represent the innocence and purity of women, of humanity of China that should be preserved. The film totally lives up to the Hollywood standard. Zhang, Yimou focus more on camera work; many of the scenes raise up a mix of audience’s emotions: sympathy, horror and the urge of rescuing people in need. But in terms of the film’s perspective, this impressively staged war drama unarguably portrayed the Japanese army as the ‘origin of sin’ in the war. Putting the sensitive historical issue aside, this movie tells a story that is full of hope, love and sacrifice that supported people through a dark and inhumane age in Chinese history.  As the Chinese-Japanese war is still a sensitive issue between the two countries, let’s just take the movie as a great piece of art. I would give this movie 4.5 out of 5. If you have a chance to see it, please do.

Yang, Events Organiser from Chillisauce Ltd. who specialise in organising hen nights and stag dos.