Review of The Flowers of War (2011) by Jonny M — 21 Jun 2013

This film is a beautifully shot at one small story from the Nanjing Rape and Massacre, in which 250,000-300,000 people were killed and tens of thousands of women were raped.

Someone commented that 'it was good until they started killing children'. The death of one person is a tragedy; the death of one million is a statistic [forgive me for quoting Stalin!] - this is why it's so important to show the reality - these 250,000 odd killings were 250,000 times what is seen in this film. A film set in wartime should not be tentative about showing what happens in war - death.

It has also been criticised for being unrealistic - there is one point where a soldier hits many targets first time from a large distance and the filming style can be, in a few parts, reminiscent of Kung Fu movies, but I do not see either of those things as anything - it's a film, not a documentary, so there is always going to be some artistic licence!

It is plainly obvious that we're meant to hate Bale's character from the start - Zhang makes this very obvious. Some would say this is too obvious and in your face, and I do agree that it was painful to watch, but this does cease fairly quickly to not have a large effect on the film as a whole.

This was Zhang's message on the film:

No matter what wars or disasters happen in history, what surrounds these times is life, love, salvation and humanity. I hope those things are felt in this story. The human side of the story was more important to me than the background of the Nanjing massacre. Human nature, love and sacrifice - these are the things that are truly eternal. For me, the event is the historical background of the film. But the enduring question of the story is how the human spirit is expressed in wartime.

I believe that this film expresses that perfectly. Everyone in the film is dealing with the reality of war in different ways - whether that means being vulgar and drunk, singing prayers with friends, caring for a cat or keeping one's class and beauty, even when climbing out of a cellar.

The soundtrack was absolutely beautiful, as were the women. The acting of the young girls was top notch. The cinematography was stunning. Zhang was not afraid to show to horrors of war [blood, bodies, rape], yet still keep me interested about the individual people in the film.

The film ending leave many loose ends, and leaves the audience feeling bittersweet - an antithesis which fits the title 'The Flowers of War'.