I had never heard of the Chinese city of Nanking until I watched this film last night, and was entirely unaware of the brutal, tragic massacre that took place there in 1937. Having since briefly researched this episode in the war between China and Japan, I wish that The Flowers of War (2011) had more successfully depicted the true weight of the horror that ravaged the ex-capital. Instead, despite some stunning visuals and notable performances, this film falls just short of being truly moving.
The international cast, headed by Christian Bale as American mortician John Millar, portray a single perspective on the city-wide massacre. The vast majority of the film, aside from the opening ten minutes, takes place inside the ‘Winchester’ Cathedral, which towers – relatively undamaged – amongst the dust and corpse-filled mayhem of Nanking. Hiding within its hallowed walls are a class of young Convent schoolgirls, subsequently joined by Bale’s John Millar as well as a group of sassy, colourful prostitutes from the infamous Qin Huai River district. The film depicts the tension between these factions, and ultimately the sacrifices that they make for one another in the face of a greater evil (in this case, the savage Japanese soldiers).
Director Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers, Hero) is quoted as saying that “Steven [Spielberg] read the script and said it was like the Schindler’s List of China.” This is a fair summary – the film is, like many others before it, a tale of one man fighting to protect the innocent amongst the chaos of war. The problem is that previous movies – Schindler’s List, Hotel Rwanda – have done it a lot better. The Flowers of War feels like an Ikea flatpack: they took all the parts required to make an Oscar-winning war drama, but got confused by the instructions and ended up with something that was almost a convincing coffee table; nevertheless, you wouldn’t want to actually rest your drink on it.
As mentioned, the performances are great – all credit should be paid to the child actors, in particular Xinyi Zhang as the strong-willed schoolgirl Shu and Tianyuan Huang as the convent’s lone boy George. Christian Bale does what Christian Bale does: he plays the character with an accuracy and intensity that is impressive, if not wholly emotionally convincing. Again, there is a sense that aspects of the film were included because the writers or director felt that they should be there: Bale’s character begins as a cynical and selfish alcoholic, but quickly reveals his heart of gold – somewhat too quickly for it to be believable. Love interest Yu Mo (played well by newcomer Ni Ni) exposes the truth that her apparent strength hides a traumatic past, and again this feels somewhat hollow.
The feminist philosophy student in me could write an essay on the reflections of sexuality, innocence and prostitution portrayed within The Flowers of War, but I’ll leave that for now (cue cheers from the reader). Suffice to say, there are some brutal, horrifying moments in the film that demonstrate the savagery of this particular slice of war history; these were the hardest-hitting and the most memorable. On the other hand, the sweeter emotional and sentimental aspects brought welcome respite from the violence, yet failed to leave a lasting impression.
By the end of the film, I knew little about the massacre of Nanking but a lot about Zhang Yimou’s Oscar aspirations. The film is beautifully shot, no doubt thanks in part to the insanely high budget (“more than Schindler’s Listand Saving Private Ryan combined!” shouted the back of my DVD). However, this might be proof that spending a lot of money can’t necessarily buy you an Oscar, or a first rate review (clearly more important), no matter how hard you try.
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