THE FLOWERS OF WAR

THE FLOWERS OF WAR tells a surprisingly personal, redemptive story about the brutal Japanese occupation of Nanking in 1937. The movie contains graphic violence, foul language, and adult subject matter, however, so extreme caution is justified.

The movie begins with a patrol of Chinese soldiers conducting its last firefight with the Japanese invaders raiding Nanking, the Chinese capitol, on Dec. 13, 1937. At the same time, a small group of Chinese girls is trying to make it back to the Roman Catholic convent and church where they go to school after they failed to get on the boats leaving the city. In addition, John Miller, an American mortician working in Nanking, is also trying to make it to the sanctuary of the church, where the priest has been killed during the Japanese attack.

John and one of the Chinese schoolgirls get covered in flour and hide from the Japanese soldiers, who are shooting everyone in sight. Eventually, they, and most of the other girls, make it to the church. So does a group of 14 prostitutes, who hide under the church kitchen in the hidden basement, which serves as an air raid shelter. Guarding the church is the dead priest’s adopted teenage son, George, who was an orphan when the priest discovered him. George wants John to fix a broken down truck sitting in the church’s huge courtyard and take the teenage schoolgirls out of the city, but John says he needs tools to do that.

A group of Japanese soldiers tries to get into the church, but the officer who was leading the Chinese patrol kills them. He has seen the girls enter the church and decides to stick around outside.

Safe for the time being, a drunken John tries to pay the lead Chinese prostitute to join him in the dead priest’s bed, but she refuses. She says the only thing she wants is for John to help her and her friends escape the city. Upset, John gets even more drunk and passes out.

The next day, one of the teenage girls gets into a fight with the prostitutes, who want to use the girls’ restroom but are refused. Suddenly, a stray bullet kills the teenage girl as some new Japanese soldiers begin invading the church courtyard. The prostitutes manage to get back to the hidden basement while the Japanese soldiers enter the church and try to rape the teenage girls. John has changed into one of the priest’s outfits. He poses as the priest and tries to stop the soldiers, but they knock him unconscious.

The Chinese officer is still watching over the church, however. He intervenes and starts firing at the soldiers on the second floor. Alarmed, the soldiers exit the church and a brutal battle ensues. Using all the grenades he has left, the Chinese officer sacrifices himself and kills these new invaders.

Several days later, a Japanese officer visits the church. John, still posing as the priest, welcomes him, and the officer leaves some potatoes for the Chinese students. He asks John to gather the girls in a few days and have them sing for him. Meanwhile, his soldiers will guard the church and make sure it’s not disturbed.

Sure enough, the Japanese officer returns and the girls sing a Christmas carol for him. The Japanese officer appears pleased, but he orders John to prepare the girls for a large party his commanding officers in Nanking will be holding in a few more days. John and the prostitutes hiding in the basement can only imagine the horrors that the Japanese have planned for the young girls. They figure it will be much worse than what happened when the other Japanese soldiers had tried to rape them a couple weeks before. Only a great act of courage and sacrifice will keep the girls safe from these fascist monsters.

THE FLOWERS OF WAR is a tale of hope and sacrifice. As such, it contains some strong, positive Christian content and references. Also, by the end of the movie, the prostitutes have regained some of the innocence and humanity they’ve lost.

Director Zhang Yimou (HERO and HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) is a master of color and action, and he shows that again here. For example, when the bullets start flying, some of the church’s stained glass shatters into colorful pieces, a symbol of the flowers that the female characters in the story come to represent.

THE FLOWERS OF WAR contains very strong or disturbing violence, including the scene where the soldiers try to rape the teenage girls and a scene where one Japanese soldier tries to rape and then bayonets one of the prostitutes who’s gone outside the church’s sanctuary. In addition to the two rape scenes, there are some references to what the Chinese prostitutes do for a living. The movie’s dialogue also contains some strong foul language.

Christian Bale does a good job as the American. However, there’s not much chemistry between him and the lead Chinese prostitute, who supposedly falls in love with him. Finally, since the movie starts off with about 15 teenage schoolgirls and 15 adult prostitutes, there’s far too many characters in THE FLOWERS OF WAR. This makes the plot a little choppy as it focuses on one group of characters, then another.

All in all, the theme of sacrifice in THE FLOWERS OF WAR is genuinely uplifting, but the brutality depicted sometimes goes overboard, especially during the attempted rape scenes.