The Flowers Of War
Zhang Yimou
The story: It is 1937 and Nanjing has fallen to the Japanese soldiers. A group of Chinese Catholic schoolgirls are stranded in the city and head to the church for safety. They place their hopes of salvation on the unlikely figure of the mortician John Miller (Christian Bale). A group of prostitutes led by the comely Yu Mo (Ni Ni) later break into the venue for shelter as well. Based on Chinese American author Yan Geling’s 2007 novella 13 Flowers Of Nanjing.

When one first sees Christian Bale with his fedora darting through war-torn streets, it seems as though we are being set up for something like Indiana Jones And The Rape Of Nanking.
To director Zhang Yimou’s credit, the film is not as jarring as that but on the other hand, he never quite manages to pull together the film as its tone veers from harrowing drama to a more light-hearted adventure flick.
Bale, best known for his brooding performances in the Batman films, plays Miller quite broadly at first. The rascally character is a fortune-hunter who has a weakness for both wine and women and, initially, he is concerned only with looking for money squirrelled away in the abandoned church.
But there is a pivotal point at which Miller turns into Oskar Schindler and he begins to take it upon himself to save the schoolgirls.
What changes his mind is the horrifying picture of Japanese soldiers breaking into the church and manhandling the terrified schoolgirls.
Later on, there is a scene of one of the prostitutes tied down by a group of Japanese soldiers, gang-raped and then gutted.
These shocking vignettes drive home the atrocities committed during the Rape of Nanking and make clear what fate would befall the schoolgirls if they do not escape from the city.
Yet they feel they belong more in Lu Chuan’s sombre City Of Life And Death (2009) which tackled grim realities unflinchingly.
The doomed attraction between Miller and Yu feels out of place as well, even though newcomer Ni Ni brings sass and nobility to her role as a prostitute with a tale of woe and a heart of gold.
This being a Zhang Yimou film, there are also visually arresting moments including the colourful explosion of a paper factory, though some of the flourishes seem a tad overdone.
Still, you care about the fate of the girls when a Japanese general orders for the lot of them to be taken away to perform at a “celebration”.
The film asks some piercing questions: Who should be saved? Who should be sacrificed? Is one human life worth more than another?
There are no easy answers and the film ends on a haunting and poignant note.
(ST)