Review of The Flowers of War (2011) by William W — 15 Sep 2016

Although I enjoyed parts of it, The Flowers of War is bad propaganda movie. Parts of it are good and somewhat interesting. However, most of it is silly and somewhat disturbing, not for the atrocities it depicts, but for the obvious anti-Japanese propaganda.

As a propaganda movie, it's awful. It's only true purpose is to incite hatred in China against Japan and perhaps inspire sympathy elsewhere for contemporary Chinese aggression. If it were more honest in its depictions, I could have been much more sympathetic to the Chinese, a people whom I adore.

Surely, they suffered greatly at the hands of the Japanese. However, I felt bad for the Japanese, because they were totally depicted as mindless animals with demonic possession and a total hatred for all Chinese.

And that's a total lie, both then and now. The Japanese are no more or less human than any others. I wish Christian Bale had not been in it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have watched it. On a side note: I spent several years in China.

Their TV offers a nightly review of Japanese atrocities. It's endless. The effect is the opposite that's intended. Chinese are both fearful and fascinated with the Japanese. Japan is one of the countries most often visited by Chinese.

When they get there, they discover that the Japanese are an extraordinarily civilized people. So how did Nanjing occur? There were a lot of factors at work. And just like the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, most soldiers did not participate nor behave horribly.

Most were likely as shocked as the rest of us. But a few rampaging soldiers can do a lot of damage. And why did the few behave as they did? That's a question for psychiatrists and historians. Films like The Flowers of War will do nothing to help relations with Japan.

Nothing. It's a harmful film that will contribute to more pain in that part of the world. And when the next war with Japan begins, if such should happen, the Chinese will be scared to death of the Japanese.

Their TV shows and movies have done this. Final note: I have no desire to debate the veracity of the events depicted in The Flowers of War. I will leave that for historians. I intended only to deprecate a propaganda film that has failed part of its purpose, which is to inspire sympathy for China.

However, its true purpose is to prepare the Chinese for a potential conflict with Japan, which threatens to be a disaster of unthinkable magnitude. Regardless of its purpose, this film serves no useful purpose in an increasingly dangerous part of the world.

Also, it's just a poorly done movie in which Bale appears ready to bail.