From Warner Bros
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Starring
Christian Bale
John Malkovich
Miranda Richardson
Nigel Havers
Joe Pantoliano
Masato Ibu
Takataro Kataoka
Emily Richard
Rupert Frazer
Robert Stephens
Ben Stiller
I originally saw this in Honolulu with a friend of mine. Somehow it seemed appropriate. We both lived on Maui at the time and had gone to the big city for some mission I have long forgotten. I do remember walking by the theater playing this film and my buddy nudged me... let's go see Spielberg's latest. I mentioned something about war films not being a big favorite-- despite Spielberg-- but my frequent movie companion told me a kid was at the center of the action and that cemented the deal. I'm so glad I was persuaded because to this day I still think it's one of the finest war films I've probably ever seen... the dark reality of war as seen through the eyes of a child... a coming of age story at its worst.
Christian Bale, at age 13, is that kid. Spielberg gives him introducing credit although another film had been released earlier in 1987. Empire of the Sun was my introduction to an actor whose career has always attracted my interest and whose films I have rarely missed. I regard him as one of the best actors of his generation and he's been at his craft longer than most of them. To say that he carries this film and is simply astonishing in it is a serious understatement.
Based on J. G. Ballard's 1984 novel, it illuminates the author's own experiences in his youth while being fictionalized. It opens in Shanghai in the early 40's. Jim (Bale) lives with his connected parents in the city's international settlement which is off limits to most residents and an area that protected mainly Brits and Americans from the city's seedier aspects.
Jim is a bright kid, curious, respectful and has a great love of airplanes. He owns a number of miniature planes and enjoys spending time with them, some of which catch the wind and fly high above the fascinated kid.
I have always remembered an early scene when Jim is flying his plane at a large costume party he is attending with his parents. He is far from the house, playing in sand and high grasses near the water when he comes upon a knoll. As he reaches the top of it, he comes face to face with a large contingent of Japanese soldiers who appear to be in hiding. They see Jim and frighten him but allow him to wander back to the house.
In short time the Japanese invade Shanghai. As Chinese citizens are moved into the streets and tanks and soldiers push them further and further away, those at the protected international settlement are rounded up as well. Jim is soon separated from his parents. His safety is immediately threatened and no one helps him. Soon hunger takes over and we find Jim begging the Japanese to take him.
Before that happens, Jim runs across two merchant seamen (Malkovich and Pantoliano), loose cannon types, who take him under their wing. Through them he feels a little safer although he
wisely assesses they are not the type of adults he's been used to.
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| Bale and Malkovich |
Soon all three are taken to an internment camp on the outskirts of the city. Rather than buckle under, Jim becomes more and more resilient. Causing no trouble, he is deferential to the Japanese and in fact he bows down to them. Soon he learns how to have them eating out of his hands. He becomes very useful to the camp by becoming a pint-sized procurer of black market goods and services.
As he gets better and better at outwitting his captors, he feels a strange sense of belonging, even safety. It's clear that at several levels he is enjoying himself. Author Ballard says this indeed happened to him and for years he felt a little guilty about it. Jim feels that so much has happened to him that he says he can't remember what his parents look like.
The day American B29's begin dropping bombs in and around the camp is a happy day for everyone. Most of the prisoners are focused on freedom while Jim seems more enamored of the planes. He hightails it to a rooftop and yells and jumps up and down. He waves at a pilot who waves back from his open cockpit. The kid is thrilled and proudly offers a salute.
One of the film's eerie scenes is when the prisoners, who after walking away from the camp, come upon an old stadium filled with the possessions of those imprisoned or killed. Seeing scores and scores of vanities, beds, sofas, pianos, tables, cars and such with the silent crowd moving in and among them is an unsettling feeling. Later there is the glow of a far-off atomic bomb.
Jim feels more of the horrors of war when a friend, a Japanese friend, no less, is shot to death in front of him and a little later he is all alone at the detention center... not a soul in sight. Perhaps then he was trying a little harder to remember what his parents looked like.
He is reunited with them in the film's most sentimental scene. I dare you to not get just a little worked up. Spielberg loves sentiment and most of us are glad he does.
One thing that has always greatly appealed to me about so many of his films is the frequent use of child actors. He certainly knows how to coax winning performances out of those little folks.
Malkovich has the second biggest role but most of the others are little more than cameos. Havers has a little more to do as the camp doctor and Pantiliano provides some needed laughs. It's a wonder that Richardson signed on for such an itty-bitty role, so we'll assume that Spielberg had her sliced and diced in the editing room. Bale is almost never off camera. This is a big film and a long one... no wonder he became a star.
Playwright Tom Stoppard adapted Ballard's novel.
I found this a musical feast. John Williams was, of course, on board. His score here is not as well-known as some of his other works, but if you saw the movie again, you're liking to say... ah yes, I recall that. There are a few delicious wartime tunes and some gorgeous Chopin. Best of all is Suo Gan, a popular Welsh lullaby played throughout the film and sung by the Ambrosian Junior Choir with soloist James Rainbird. Spielberg picked it as a tribute to Bale who is Welsh.
Here, have a gander at the trailer:
Next posting:
A good 80's movie
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