Review of Empire of the Sun (1987) by Parker M — 10 May 2011

2 Stars out of 4.

Steven Spielberg has called Empire of the Sun the story of Peter Pan turned backwards. The boy in this case grows up too quickly. I've always admired films that look at catastrophic events through naive point of views (Life Is Beautiful, Germany Year Zero) but Empire of the Sun just isn't right. It exists too much in fantasy, clouding moments of tragedy with transparent expression. It's not the boy who seems naive it is the movie.

It takes place in Shanghai during World War 2 when Japan was feuding with China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, which later became the devastating Pacific War of 1945. An eleven year-old British upper school boy named Jamie Graham (Christian Bale, one of his earliest performances next Mio In the Land of the Faraway) is separated from his parents in an army march in the city. Jamie must fend for himself, trying to survive in a world that is no longer full of opulence.

Jamie is captured by the Japanese and sent to a POW camp with his duplicitous sailor friend Basie (John Malkovich). The loyalty of their relationship is constantly in question as Basie cannot hold back from his selfish ways, whereas barely knows what it is to be selfish and still has the best intentions of people. Basie nicknames Jamie "Jim" and an adventure ensues, where Spielberg tries to show a transformation but the film never feels like it adds up to anything.

What Spielberg is so insistent of is exhibiting Jim's loss of innocence as a microcosm of a world losing its own too. But not enough is at stake. World War 2 was a time of peril but Jim never seems to be in danger. Indiana Jones was in more of a moral dilemma. Bale is competent here: he is likeable, charming and charismatic. But his wit sidetracks the film into too much fantasy. Malkovich is also too soft. His character does not act like a POW camp but like a sailor doped up on too much valium. He is supposed to be Jim's hero but he is just too passive and uninvolved here.

The film has some noble moments showing Jim walking by a Kamikaze training group but Spielberg never emphasizes poignance. Empire of the Sun sets on too much optimism. It is a semi-autobiographical story by J.G. Ballard and his experience must have been more complicated than this. When the film ends nothing much has changed. Jim is still a kid, yes, but the world resembles an unbeaten one not one that has been through chaos. Even during the plane fighting sequences Spielberg emphasizes too much false exhilaration. It is true Jim wants to be a fighter pilot but such a motive is too obvious. Spielberg avoids an interesting paradox: Jim's dreams of escaping in the air is really a place of fear, combat and death. Spielberg just plays its safe.

Spielberg remarks he is a savant of World War 2, but Empire of the Sun is too guilty of its optimism. It doesn't portray the works of a man who has a confident grasp on coming of age emotions during such a time. I'm not saying I do but the film takes such a pivotal moment in history and waters it down. Then why did I like Life Is Beautiful, a story of similar happy-go-luckiness during World War 2? That film had a buoyant title like this movie but director Roberto Benigni created tremendous suspense in the audience knowing our characters were in danger, though they had to pretend they were never. That film was still a tragedy because the characters had to lie to themselves they were not in one.

I can admire films without dread and cynicism, but Empire of the Sun needs a sliver of something more challenging. Just once I would have liked to see this little boy scared. I was not convinced, that amidst this war, he had grown up very quickly.