A Beautiful Albeit Light Portrayal of The Most Brutal Atrocity in WWII

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2012)

Zhang YiMou, through The Flowers of War, made more people aware of a shameful moment in our history. I am surprised at how a gruesome subject was done so beautifully. If anything, Zhang's movie respected well-documented historical facts. But I agree with New York Times critic Mike Hale that Zhang danced around too light, somewhat trivializing the actual gruesomeness. Perhaps Zhang is taking into consideration that average movie goers unfamiliar with that part of history may be too disturbed by the actual level of brutality far worse than what's portrayed in the movie. His worries seem well justified as a good segment of the audience thought even Zhang's light-touched portrayal was too gruesome to be real, therefore a piece of propaganda.
Some people went as far as quoting very low post-massacre rape pregnancy/birth rate (vs. Nazi data) as evidence that the Rape of Nanking didn't happen, oblivious of the fact that the civilian population of Nanking was WIPED out by the Japanese. The women who were raped were then killed, with very few lucky exceptions. Dead women can't confirm pregnancy or give birth. The low post-rape birth number shows the Japanese brutality well-surpassed Nazi's.
Even as the Japanese WWII veterans went to Nanking to kneel in public for days, repenting for atrocities committed, there are plenty outsiders who simply want or need to deny Nanking Massacre despite clear historical evidence. The Japanese government went as far as rewriting/white-wash WWII history with regard to its brutal invasion and occupation of Asian nations.
If German government acted anything like the Japanese in denying history, then the Holocaust NEVER happened.
If you dislike China, its communist government, or this movie, if you simply love Japan, that's all fine. But please have the decency to respect facts and history. For making a part of history come to our awareness in such an artistic way, I applaud Zhang YiMou.