A tale of tragedy, sacrifice and hope

Rating: 7/10 (25 April 2012)

This Zhang Yimou movie on the Rape of Nanking starts off unevenly, but thankfully, everything begins to fall into place by the halfway mark. At first, it is hard to care about the characters, as they are not introduced properly. However, we get to know each of them as the story slowly unfolds and, towards the end, one might even be choking back some tears. The acting is superb throughout. Christian Bale's casting is meaningful because his first movie was Empire of the Sun, which was also about the Japanese invasion of China. In the space of 25 years, we see him at the beginning of his career in master-director Spielberg's Empire, and as a seasoned actor in master-director Zhang's Flowers. The film is beautifully shot, and the music score also features solos by Joshua Bell. Suffice to say, production values are top notch.