A more thoughtful Spielberg film

Rating: 9/10 (2 March 2010)

Steven Spielberg has shown himself to be one of the most versatile directors in the world, showing he can tackle almost any genre. But in the 1980s he was more famous for doing blockbusters like Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the Indiana Jones series. In the mid 80s tried to change all that by making more serious, Oscar challenging films like The Colour Purple and of course, Empire of the Sun. This led to Spielberg gaining his well earn Oscar for Schindler's List.
Starting in 1941, the Japanese army was getting closer to Shanghai. Many British ex-pats are starting to leave China for other British colonies. Jamie Graham (Christian Bale) is a wealth child living in a British area of the city. Jamie is a spoiled child, disrespecting his servants and lives a live of luxury. He is also smart child, who knows a lot about military aviation. When the Japanese troops finally takes Jamie and his family try and felt China. But Jamie is separated and forced to survive in the occupied city. Jamie quickly has to tie his destiny with Basie (John Malkovich), an American who ends up stuck in city, and shows himself to be resourceful, but morally, a little questionable. Jamie and Basie are captured by the Japanese, and forced to live in an internment camp. Jamie has to learn how to survive quickly.
Empire of the Sun was based on the J. G. Ballard's semi-autobiographical novel, where he also had to live in Japanese occupied China. Here Spielberg shows his growing skill, working with a good script by Tom Stoppard. Spielberg tells a coming-of-age set during the horrors of war. Jamie really grows as a character, becoming a more caring character, shows how his innocence is clipped away. This is a more artist film by Spielberg with some of the scenes, aiming to put a lot of symbolism in the film. This ending up being very similar to the Soviet classic Come and See (highly recommended viewing). Spielberg shows the collapse of law and order in Shanghai, and tough conditions in a Japanese camp. But Spielberg also tries to show some balance in the film, with some Japanese characters in a more decent light, like a Japanese runaway technician. Jamie shows he has respect for the Japanese for their bravery, and from a distances the audiences slowly see the decline of the Japanese war-effort. Nowadays Spielberg uses CGI in his movies, like in Saving Private Ryan and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but that was not option in 1987. This actually makes the film better because it forced Spielberg to use more old fashioned techniques, and the action felt a lot more real, using real planes throughout. Whilst this is a good film for the most part, there were some moments that felt a little forced and unrealistic. Spielberg also shows that he has a weak for over-sentimentality, but those moments are few and far between. The character of Mrs. Victor (Miranda Richardson) also felt very underplayed, and her part was properly cut from what was originally intended.
There is a good cast. Christian Bale at the age of 13 shows that even then he was a talented actor with a good future in actor. He offered an excellent performance and shows a real change in his character. John Malkovich is also a excellent actor and gives a strong performance as a mentor to Jamie. There also other good supporting performances throughout the film, such as Joe Pantoliano, Nigel Havers, Rupert Frazer and Emily Richard.
There is a excellent score by John Williams, a long time collaberator with Spielberg, adding to the power of the film. The cinematography by Allen Daviau was also wondering done, showing many different territories of China. Daviau and Spielberg worked very well together to film some very difficult shots. Michael Kahn also offers a good editing job throughout the film.
This was originally a project that the great David Lean wanted to direct, but Spielberg was pretty much following in his style. This is one of Spielberg's most surprising films and is well worth watching.