“Flowers of War” Theatrical Poster
Director: Zhang Yimou
Writer: Liu Heng, Geling Yan
Cast: Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Zhang Xinyi, Tong Dawei, Atsuro Watabe, Shigeo Kobayashi, Cao Kefan
Running Time: 146 min.
By Jacob Walker
Zhang Yimou’s underrated war film; 2011’s The Flowers of War, provides a timely reminder that even though we are living through uncertain times, as a species we have experienced and survived much worse. Through urban warfare, the 20th century represented cruelty and killing on a scale not documented before, which is represented here by the Japanese occupation of Nanjing.
The film, based on the novel 13 Flowers of Nanjing by Geling Yan, transports the audience to 1937 Nanjing, during the second Sino-Japanese War. The city is already in ruins, as Japanese soldiers are fighting the remnants of the Chinese resistance and targeting civilians. We are introduced to John Miller (Christian Bale) whose status of being a white man and an outsider, is typified by him falling in a pit of flour. He is an American mortician who has been tasked with burying the priest of a Catholic convent. When he discovers there is no body to bury or money to compensate him, he is forced to stay with the children at the convent, guzzling wine, before sheltering Continue reading
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