The other side of War

Rating: 8/10 (2 July 2013)

Yimou Zhang (The House of the Flying Daggers, Hero) gets away of Chinese traditional heroes to approach a more serious topic: the Nanking rape massacre, set in 1937 during the Japanese invasion of the Chinese city of Nanking. Christian Bale is cast as an American grave digger that ends up posing as a priest to save a group of prostitutes and a group of former student young girls on a monastery. The camera and photography are very strong, with the mood set in a very sober fashion. Almost no soundtrack accompanies Flowers of War's powerful scenes, belonging to the amazing actors the responsibility of delivering emotions to the audience. The Flowers of War is not a traditional war movie as it focuses on the characters and their specific situation and not the war itself. This is the other side of war, the civilian side. Great performances and once again a stellar Christian Bale make you care for this amazing story that does not try to cheat you with a fake quality seal. The dialog is mainly Chinese spoken, only with Bale left with some room for English, making the Flowers of War very believable and immersive. It's a shame that this movie was so weakly divulged, this is a classic and one of the best foreign movies of 2011. Visit thefadingcam blog for more!