Night at the Movies: “The Flowers of War”

By Jeremy Scott

San Diego Informer

War does strange and terrible things to people. Most experiences are soul-crushing, but once in a while people are moved to acts of impossible heroism. On the opposite end of the spectrum, men who may never have hurt anyone in their lives are pushed to the most heinous limits of cruelty. This is the context of Yimou Zhang’s new film “The Flowers of War.”

Nanking in the winter of 1937 is the horrific backdrop for the extraordinary events that unfolded during Japan’s infamous invasion. John Miller (Christian Bale) – an unscrupulous boozehound mortician, twelve soignée and haughty prostitutes, and a group of terrified school-girls all find themselves forced together under the same roof of an enormous church, which serves as the only sanctuary left in Nanking. It is to this last group of girls that the “flowers”

alluded to in the film’s title belong, and we’re not talking roses and tulips. The war-crazed Japanese soldiers who haven’t laid eyes on a woman in months have an extremely vested interest in the girls’
flowers, and as you may have predicted, the duty of protecting them falls on the dubious John Miller.

This film is not for history buffs. All the focus is on the small set of characters and the nuances of their relationships. The desperate and precarious circumstances they’re in provide for excellent character development as they scheme to escape the horrific fate that awaits them at the hands of the savagely portrayed Japanese. Sometimes it’s hard to take Christian Bale seriously, but the rest of the cast including Yu Mo (Ni Ni), the perspicacious leader of the concubines, do a fantastic job with their characters. If you’re in the mood for something lighthearted, maybe skip this one but if you’re feeling like experiencing some of the fundamental human emotions- grief, joy, altruism, etc., then Flowers is something you’re sure to enjoy.