Directed by Zhang Yimou
Cast: Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Zhang Xinyi
Wars are fought among men, but wars are also fought within men. All wounds can be treated. All wounds can be healed; but every time one looks back at what caused the pain, there is a realization that the pain, though ignored, has been there all along. The remnants of pain fuel the human spirit to strive for triumph and survival.
Nostalgic, melancholic and surprisingly sensual, The Flowers of War is a poignant yet beautiful spectacle. An experience quite unlike any other, The Flowers of War gives its viewers a painful glimpse of the traumatic past through the eyes of a 13 year old convent girl. Set in 1937 China, the film depicts the historical Rape of Nanking, and the atrocities brought about by the Japanese invaders. At the center of the story is an American mortician, John Miller (Christian Bale), whose task to embalm the priest of a Chinese convent, turns into a huge responsibility of protecting the convent girls, as well as the beautiful courtesans seeking refuge in the convent.
Miller sets out on the dangerous battlefield in search of the convent headed by the now deceased Father Ingleman, whose body he is supposed to embalm. Stumbling over a slew of dead bodies and civilians running for their lives, Miller almost gets killed, but is left alone after he introduces himself as an American. Hiding in one corner are two English-speaking Chinese convent girls, who lead Miller into Ingleman's convent. Ingleman's body is nowhere to be found, and Miller demands cash from the Ingleman's assistant and convent caretaker, George. Unable to give this, Miller joins George and the convent girls in seeking refuge at the convent. His rude behavior and heavy drinking annoy George and the girls, but things begin to change as soon as beautiful courtesans come to take refuge at the convent as well. The courtesans' stunning leader, Yu Mo (Ni Ni), catches Miller's fancy. She flirts back, but will not sleep for him for cash. She urges him to help them escape to Nanking by fixing the truck left by Ingleman, and promises that she will thank him in ways he can never imagine. Miller shrugs this off, gets drunk and ends up wearing Father Ingleman's priest wardrobe. He wakes up to a conundrum. As the courtesans hide in the cellar, Japanese soldiers go after the convent girls and attempt to rape them, until Miller intervenes, appearing to be the head priest of the convent. The Japanese soldiers leave, and two convent girls die from the encounter. Over the next few days, Miller continues to pose as a priest and develops a mutual attraction with Yu Mo, the convent girls and courtesans start to get along, a lone soldier gives his life to kill all enemies surrounding the area, and a Japanese officer arrives to give the convent dwellers "protection". He stations guards by the convent and encourages the girls to practice singing. Meanwhile, Miller secures tools to fix the truck, with the help of the father of Shu (convent girl who is narrating the story), who has become an ally to the Japanese in order to ensure his daughter's safety. Shu's father also manages to get a pass for Shu, which will expire soon and will enable her to leave for Nanking. He entrusts this to Miller. The series of events that take place after this involve drastic role reversals and intense heroic display by each character until the very end.
I found the film to be very character-driven, and I see this in a positive light. I do not understand why this film is critically panned because of centering the story on a white character. In my opinion, making the mortician masquerading as a priest American is called for in the story. Had the character been Chinese, no lives would be spared because Japanese soldiers were more lenient or even subservient to Americans during that time. Therefore, there would be no story to begin with, if Bale's character were to be Chinese. Christian Bale's character is the most essential of all. His nationality and skills as a mortician really played a significant part in the story. It also helped that he was a sort of reluctant and accidental hero. He was a drunkard, he had the hots for the courtesan, Yu Mo, he disrespected the deceased Father Ingleman by wearing his priest attire, he demanded George for non-existent money, and yet he was reformed little by little. His character's transformation was believable. It made the character deeper than your usual cookie-cutter, all-righteous hero. He was indifferent, yet he was humanized. His lack of an in-depth backstory does make his character enigmatic, but it works. All we know about him is that his daughter died at an early age, and she was the first corpse he's ever worked on. We sense that he is a damaged individual, and that, for me is enough back story, as looking back more would be quite irrelevant.
Newcomer Ni Ni makes a breakthrough performance as Yu Mo. She portrayed the character effectively. Despite her character's courtesan background, the audience somehow sympathizes with her, knowing that she only got into the trade after being raped by her stepfather at age 13. Ni Ni played the role with subtlety, and her underacting worked wonders. She did not have to shed tears or become sentimental in dealing with the convent girls just to show that she can relate to them, that she was once like them. Despite the red lipstick and the colorful, shiny qipao she was in, the audience could still sense the goodness and nobleness hiding behind her facade. Her chemistry with Christian Bale is also commendable.
My only problem with this film is the brash, totally unrealistic characterization of two courtesans, who fled the convent and braved the bloody battlefield outside just to get some pipa strings and a pair of earrings that they left behind at the brothel. There is no logical way to explain this, and no person in the right mind would risk his or her life for these shallow things. Maybe it was a tool to make the film more melodramatic, but this did not work for me.
Critics may have had problems with this film's mise-en-scene. The world outside the convent only makes a few appearances in the film. There are not enough war scenes, not enough death and not enough cruelty according to some critics. They found the film to be contrived, even escapist, because it only presents a narrow view of the goings on during the Rape of Nanking. They think that the film focuses too much on the sexual tension between John Miller and Yu Mo. The cinematography is too rich, colorful and lavish; and the gaze is rather sensual. They think that the treatment of the film watered down the severity and bleakness of what was actually happening during that time.While I agree with what they are saying, I will reiterate that this film is not a documentary. It is not very fact-driven, but is heavily emotion-driven. It focuses on the plight of a minor unit of society (convent girls), and their societal opposites (courtesans). Juxtaposing these two opposite sides of society and showing that they share the same humanity is like saying that they are just two sides of the same coin. This, for me, is absolutely genius.
The film is also rich in symbolism that ultimately give the film more depth. Early in the film, we see John Miller giving flour to George and the convent girls for them to make bread. Then he proceeds to Father Ingleman's quarters to drink his wine. Eventually, he wears Father Ingleman's clothes. The bread and wine alludes that John Miller is to become the savior of the students in the convent. His wearing of Father Ingleman's clothes marks the start of him literally putting himself in Father Ingleman's place. The bullet-punctured hole in the church's glass window serves as Shu's peering hole into the harsh reality outside of the convent- where people are raped, killed brutally and left to rot in the street. It is also a reminder that everyone in the convent is still part of that reality, and that they are eventually bound to face it successfully or otherwise.
As is expected of Zhang Yimou, the cinematography was absolutely breathtaking, and this is not to be expected of a war film. The slow motion shots of the courtesans laughing and giggling in the cellar screams sensuality, but I see nothing wrong with it because that is how they really are supposed to be. Zhang Yimou knows how to appreciate and showcase beauty, and it would not be a Zhang Yimou film if there is not at least one element that serves as visual candy.
Heartbreaking, beautiful and powerful are the only words that come to mind when asked to describe this film. The Rape of Nanking is a war among men and within men. In war, there is no triumph, but the human spirit triumphs in remembering heroes who have sacrificed themselves to save the youth. Heroes are not just good people. Anyone can be a hero, so long as there is humanity within. Con-artists can be heroes. Prostitutues can be heroes. Political traitors can be heroes. Whatever the facade, whatever the label, whatever the form, heroes will be heroes.
