A forgotten corner of war

Rating: 8/10 (7 August 2018)

This a a story of loss. Loss of empire, both British and Japanese and of innocence, of the character played by a young Christian Bale, who turns in a superbly nuanced performance, uncommon amongst thirteen year old actors. Born of empire but not of England we see the main protagonist, Jim played by Bale admire, what is the Japanese war machine, mostly their airforce. This does make one feel somewhat uncomfortable but due to the complete lack of British or any other allied military power in the region, it is the only military role model he has. Perhaps this underlines, that we are products of our immediate experience and not some codified ideal written in tablets of stone. The film is long at two and a half hours; though directed by Spielberg, I doubt very much that even he, would get away with that today and it would probably benefit from some judicious editing as many of the latter scenes add little value to the message of this film. Seeing this film at the cinema, thirty years ago as a callow youth, I would have been surprised that the young actor Bale, would become an international super star but having seen it for the first time since, tonight; I wonder with such a performance, how could it have been otherwise.