Maintaining Humanity in Time of War

Rating: 8/10 (11 July 2012)

The gruesome realities of the Japanese invasion and conquering of the city of Nanking, China in 1937 have been brought to the screen on a regular basis: In The Name of the Emperor form Christine Choi and Nancy Tang in 1998, Nanking form Bill Gutentag and Dan Sturman in 2007, City of Life and Death form Chuan Lee in 2009 and John Rabe from Florian Gallenburger in 2009, and now come THE FLOWERS OF WAR from Yimou Zhang in 2011. Though the story is based on facts, the various movie versions vary considerably on what really happened. THE FLOWERS OF WAR is based on Geling Yan's novel '13 Flowers of Nanjing,' the story gathers an improbable collection of people -- Bale's freelance American mortician, a group of convent schoolgirls and the women from a local brothel -- in the nominal refuge of a Catholic cathedral as the capital falls to Japan's Imperial Army. There are so many sidebar stories and characters introduced that the enormous impact the other films created is somewhat diluted here despite some quality direction from Yimou Zhang. As the LA Times critic stated, 'The Flowers of War has broken new ground for China's movie industry: It's among the first domestically financed films to star a high-profile Hollywood actor (Christian Bale), and its reported budget of close to $100 million makes it the country's priciest production to date. But when it comes to storytelling, Zhang Yimou's 19th feature is decidedly backward-looking: A lavish period weepie set against the atrocities of the Nanking Massacre, "Flowers" abounds with well-worn movie archetypes and slathers on schmaltz.'
Briefly stated, in 1937 China, during the second Sino-Japanese war, a mortician, John (Christian Bale) arrives at a Catholic church in Nanjing to prepare a priest for burial. Upon arrival he finds himself the lone adult among a group of convent girl students and prostitutes from a nearby brothel. When he finds himself in the unwanted position of protector of both groups from the horrors of the invading Japanese army, he discovers the meaning of sacrifice and honor. Innocence-vs. -experience is an undeniably strong theme. The girls' tender adolescence heightens its impact, especially given the historical facts. The Nanking Massacre is also known as the Rape of Nanking, and it's more than a figurative description: The Japanese invaders committed horrendous sexual assaults against the female population. In "Flowers," the girls' safety becomes the paramount concern of the survivors holed up in the cathedral.
Christian Bale seems to struggle with this character and his performance is not particularly convincing or moving. The aspect of this film that overcomes the over-production qualities (hiring Joshua Bell to provide a violin solo seems a bit much, etc) is the story itself, a bit of history that cannot be replayed often enough to again remind us how war alters man - and that survival, no matter the method, is the laudatory aspect of human caring.
Grady Harp