Spielberg proves his chops with moving war story from young boy's perspective

Rating: 8/10 (27 November 2010)

A child's point of view can change your entire perspective. Steven Spielberg has always demonstrated a gift for bringing that child-like sense of wonder and working with young actors, most notably in writing "The Goonies" and directing "E.T." In "Empire of the Sun," he shows us war-torn China and Japan through the eyes of a 12-year-old Christian Bale. The 1987 war epic marks the director's first of what would become several powerful war stories and only his second dramatic feature after "The Color Purple."
There's maybe a split-second shot of some people on the street wearing swastikas, but otherwise, "Empire of the Sun" is not a "same old" World War II film. Considering the war films he's know for, kudos to Spielberg for focusing this story on one fraction of WWII and the survival of a young boy separated from his parents who is forced to lose his innocence in the throws of war.
Jamie (Bale), lives in a lovely home with servants and his parents in Shanghai. He's lived there his whole life as the British have had a presence there for a long time. He has a wild imagination, loves airplanes and sees the world with rose-colored glasses as he ought to at his age. When the Japanese invade in December of '41, Jamie gets separated in the streets from his parents and begins a brutal journey that ultimately brings him to Soo Chow internment camp where he's known as Jim. He carves a new life for himself as a crafty and inspiring young man.
Tom Stoppard, who had just received an Oscar nomination for Terry Gilliam's "Brazil," doesn't provide an eventful script, but does create a compelling portrait of Jamie/Jim. His journey could rank as one of the most complete and intriguing child story lines in film history. Although the film is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by J.G. Ballard, Stoppard finds the key moments and visual symbols and metaphors to guide us through Jim's journey.
At first Jim's painfully naive, running up to Japanese soldiers and shouting that he surrenders. Spielberg nearly convinces us he's going to get beat to death by one of them at any moment, but he's more so lost and clueless in these early stages. We watch Jim grow wiser throughout the film, or at least craftier and more tenacious, but Spielberg makes sure that he never looks or acts like a miniature adult. At a key, tender moment sometime in the bulk of the 150-minute film, Jim confesses through tears that he can't remember what his parents look like anymore. Neither can we -- it's been that kind of journey and we've been in Jim' shoes (a pair of golf shoes for much of the film) that whole time.
Jim's outlook makes him an inspiring character, certainly one that adds refreshment to a war story that could have been and has been told in many ways using many different wars. This character arch is the winning feature of "Empire of the Sun." Little else nominates it for discussion among all-time great war films, but the perspective of a boy changes everything for the better.
~Steven C
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