Saturday Movie Review: The Flowers of War

In 1937 China, during the second Sino-Japanese war, a mortician, John (Christian Bale) arrives at a Catholic church in Nanjing to prepare a priest for burial. Upon arrival he finds himself the lone adult among a group of convent girl students and prostitutes from a nearby brothel. When he finds himself in the unwanted position of protector of both groups from the horrors of the invading Japanese army, he discovers the meaning of sacrifice and honor.

Writers: Heng Liu (screenplay), Geling Yan (novel)

Stars: Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Xinyi Zhang 

Jin ling shi san chai (original title)

R | 2h 26min | Drama, History, Romance 

2011

My thoughts:

I watched this movie and then never wrote a review, and then I wanted to write a review, so here I am, way too long afterwards.

I seem to watch Bale play drunken people a lot, oh well, he does it well. He is just there in the background because the real stars are the girls and the prostitutes. The enmity between them at first, the friendship and the respect. 

This is a hard one to review. The brutality of the Japanese soldiers and the destruction of the town is staggering. All while Bale as the priest tries to protect those within his walls and claim sanctuary since he is a Westerner. But we all know that can not last....

There is also another story woven into this, a group of Chinese soldiers trying their best to fight the Japanese. But they are not many, they do not have a lot, but they fight.

A good movie that made me cry. But then I watched it when I was pregnant and all movies made me cry then. But then I also chose sad ones.