FLOWERS OF WAR

China, 2010, 140 minutes, Colour.
Christian Bale, Ni Ni.
Directed by Zhang Yimou.

The siege and rape of Nanking is still vivid in the Chinese memory. The attack by the Japanese on the Chinese capital, the savagery of the treatment of the citizens, more than 200.000 deaths, in 1937 are alive more than 70 years later. And, there have been a number of films portraying aspects of the experience. John Rabe brings in the German and international connections. Chen Kaige’s Forever Enthralled, enters through stories of theatre and opera. The most comprehensive, moving and shocking film is City of Life and Death (SIGNIS prize in San Sebastian, 2009). Veteran director, Zhang Yimou, has chosen to focus on a small group and their treatment as a symbol of the whole experience.

There are two groups of women in this film. Rather, one is a group of schoolgirls, convent-educated, who seem refuge in the Cathedral. The other is a group of prostitutes who clamour at the gate of the Catholic compound, are reluctantly let in and are looked down on by the girls. A young orphan, George, has been left by the parish priest to protect the girls.

Inside the compound, the prostitutes take over the cellar, while the girls stay in the dormitory above. There are sequences of squabble and antagonism. But, the main war is outside.

Zhang Yimou has been interested in Chinese history for some decades. Initially he went into a more distant past but also made some small films of local stories. Then he went martial arts with such spectacles as Hero and House of a Thousand Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower. This time, he stages most effective street battles and the work of a Chinese sniper picking off a troop of Japanese soldiers who have entered the Cathedral and brutalised the school girls who have diverted attention away from the prostitutes in the cellar.

But the central character is an American mortician who has been caught in the crossfire on his way to prepare bodies for burial at the Cathedral. He encounters two of the girls and follows them. He is mercenary at heart and wants to be paid for his help, searching the poor boxes, finding altar wine and consuming it (not religiously) and making George desperate. He has no objections to the presence of the prostitutes.

But, like Humphrey Bogart almost sixty years before him in The Left Hand of God (also set in China), he disguises himself as a priest and moves to defend the schoolgirls when they are attacked. He is John Miller, but now they call him Fr John. He is played by Christian Bale as a rather extroverted and swaggering opportunist.

Much of the film is watching Fr John grow into his role as priest (not 100% edifying) but showing the ideals of a priest in practice. The other principal characters, besides George, the ever-present and helpful assistant, are the leader of the prostitutes, Mo, and the leader of the schoolgirls, Shu.

The polite Japanese commander who apologises for the attack on the girls (and believes that Fr John is really Fr John) comes to hear the girls sing and books them to perform at a celebration of the taking of Nanking. Fr Joh refuses but is pressurised – which brings the film to a final climax as to how the schoolgirls will be protected from the less than honourable intentions of the celebrating Japanese. Which brings the film to quite a moving ending. While the background canvas of the film is large, this film itself is more of a miniature, in parts authentically brutal, in parts somewhat romantic, of what was happening around the city under the occupation.

1. The memories of 1937 in Chinese consciousness? The films made about the siege of Nanking? Seventy years of remembering?

2. The career of Zhang Yimou, his interest in Chinese history, films on the grand scale, small scale? His status and awards? For this film?

3. The information about 1937, the Japanese invasion, the siege of Nanking, the cruelty and occupation, two hundred thousand killed?

4. The sets for Nanking, the streets, the bombed buildings, the hiding places, the cathedral and school, the neighbouring buildings, the brothel, the Japanese headquarters? The interiors of the church, the sacristy, the cellar, the stairs? Sense of realism? The musical score?

5. The focus on the girls, their age, convent-educated, the deaths of some of the girls, the others unable to escape, the hunt for them, their fears, hiding?

6. John, his being chased, his notice about being an American, the soldier holding him up, the building collapsing, the flour? His being saved, finding the killers, protecting them, making his way to the cathedral? His encountering George? John Miller’s background, the death of his daughter, his going to China, his being a mortician? His wanting cash from George, the altar wine? His behaviour with the girls, mercenary? The arrival of the prostitutes? The fights and clashes? His drinking? His being confronted by Mo?

7. George, his being an orphan, guarding the cathedral, his being strict, his reluctance to let the prostitutes in, his care for the girls, with John?

8. John waking, the clerical garb? His putting it on? His being ready to face the Japanese as a cleric? His appearance, confronting the Japanese in their attacks on the girls, his being bashed? The effect on him, his conscience, his increasing willingness to help? Discussions with Mo, the deal, his apology to her? The making of the bread with the flour? His acting as a priest?

9. Li, the Chinese forces, confronting the Japanese in the streets, their all being killed, Li's bringing Pu Shang to the cathedral? Leaving him to the care of the prostitutes? Pu Shang, his wounds being tended, the girl from his village talking with him, his death? John and his using his mortician’s skills on the body of the young man? Li going into the adjacent building, sniper attacks on the Japanese attacking the girls? His setting out the bombs in the courtyard, killing the Japanese, the explosions, his death?

10. The presentation of the Japanese, in the streets fighting? The taking over of Nanking? The brutality of the group in the cathedral, wanting the young girls? The girl falling to her death? The sniper attacks and their leaving, Li destroying them? The commander coming to give his apology, playing the organ and singing the song about Japan, asking for the girls to sing for him, placing guards at the cathedral to protect them from attack?

11. The girls and their clash with the prostitutes, not wanting the women to come and use their washing facilities? The prostitutes, their clothes and makeup, in the cellar, the different characters? Their interactions? The girls’ interactions? Shu and her antipathy towards the prostitutes but leading the Japanese away from the cellar to protect them?

12. The truck in the yard, the father of the young girl who couldn’t get the tickets for their escape, his being an official for the Japanese, their humiliating him, John asking him to get the tools, his bringing them, the repair of the truck, his getting the permit? Packing the girls in the truck under the cases, the pass letting them through, the bribe with the altar wine, going to safety? The father being shot after the Japanese thought he saw his daughter?

13. Singing for the Japanese, the prostitute chasing her cat, the Japanese counting thirteen students, the cover by Shu about the uniform? The invitation for the girls to sing at the reception, the anniversary of the taking of Nanking, John and his polite rejection, the Japanese insistence?

14. Mo and John, talking, Mo’s story, their relationship, hopes? Sending John to search for the two prostitutes who went back to the brothel, George accompanying him, finding them dead, the rape by the Japanese?

15. The suggestion about the choir, the girls wanting to kill themselves? Bringing them down from the tower? The suggestion that the prostitutes go in their stead, the issue of the makeovers, John and his mortician skills, transforming the prostitutes to students? The collaboration, with the girls, the uniforms, using the curtains to suppress their breasts? Working together?

16. The numbers, one missing, George offering to go, his reasons, for protecting the girls, the risk, his being transformed, his refusing to jump from the truck to safety? John seeing off the women, giving them gifts?

17. The father of the girl, his coming to see his daughter, the prostitute unwilling to go, the fuss she caused, the Japanese interpreting this as the daughter of the father watching? The truck leaving – and the Japanese shooting the father dead? John telling the narrator of his regret in not having time to bury the body?

18. A smaller story of war, groups of women, groups of girls, abuse and murder – and heroism? The contribution to understanding the siege of Nanking and its effect on the Chinese mentality?