The Flowers of War

The positive comments I heard from my Chinese friends and relatives, as well as the negative reviews in the press on Zhang Yimou's movie "The Flowers of War" made me quite intrigued. Having been a fan of Zhang Yimou for as long as he has been in the movie business, I try to see all his films. Indeed his recent movies have been disappointing, most notably "Curse of the Golden Flower" (even the translation of the movie title sounds ludicrous). I remember I was once so fanatically enthralled by his movies that I told my mom that one of my biggest dreams would be to meet Zhang Yimou in person - this was right after I saw "To Live".

Ironically, in recent years, his movies are not only allowed in China, but also celebrated to great fanfare. This is in direct contrast to the days when his movies were deemed too subversive and too critical of China's past. One could not help but wonder if it is because he is now making movies which are largely in synch with the government agenda. "Hero" is the least subtle of all of them, preaching the idea that tyranny and oppression might be necessary for the sake of unity and peace.

"The Flowers of War" is about a story that occurred during the Nanking massacre. The World War II provided the context and background for numerous movies in the west, ranging from epic battle movies with lots of explosions and gunfires ("Pearl Harbor", "Saving Private Ryan", "Flags of My Father"), to rather personal stories with the war as the background ("Atonement", "Au Revoir Les Enfants", "Life is Beautiful"). While there is a a high level of awareness about the holocaust in the west, manifested by the Holocaust Museum in D.C. and the Academy Awards showered on the holocaust movies ("Schindler's List", "The Pianist", etc), what the Japanese armies did in China and especially in Nanking (then capital of China) was relatively unknown to the western audience until the publication of Iris Chang's book "The Rape of Nanking".

Actually there have ALSO been numerous movies made in China about the atrocities of the Japanese armies during World War II, and I can think of at least three which were made specifically about the "Rape of Nanking" - a phrase coined by Iris Chang. They were not cinematic masterpieces, and served mostly an educational role, if not a bit too propaganda-like. Therefore, "The Flowers of War" marks the first time that a movie about this painful episode is shown to the western audience.

Perhaps it explains why Zhang Yimou has tried his best to cater to a western audience. He has not been known for subtlety when he wants to deliver a message (e.g. "Hero"). With this movie, he is clearly trying to inform the audience about the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in Nanking.

Frankly, the story has many flaws, many of which obviously are attributed to the writer, as opposed to the director. The characters were thinly built and ill developed. The moral transformation of the American guy played by Christian Bale in the movie was simultaneously unbelievable and predictable. The credibility of the twists and turns of the events would not stand a closer look by anyone with an average intelligence.

Yet despite all that, Zhang Yimou has managed to appeal to his Chinese audience in a way that perhaps only he knows how. He has not done so well with the western audience. The reviews in China have been much more positive than here in the US. His meticulous attention to details such as how his actresses must speak an authentic Nanking dialect and must learn how to walk in the way that prostitutes back then walked, perhaps can only be rivaled by Steve Jobs with his fanatical emphasis on the details of the Apple products. The title of the film in Chinese "Thirteen Beauties in Nanking" is a clever play on the famous Chinese classic novel "Dream of the Red Mansion", which is utterly lost in translation. The scene in which the prostitutes played the quintessentially romantic song of that era from that region has a huge emotional impact on Chinese people with appreciation for folk operas, which does not translate emotionally to a western audience. In the end, despite his effort to appeal to a western audience with more than half the original dialogues in English, he has won over his Chinese audience, who found his cinematic approach to the subject of Nanking massacre unique, refreshing, poignant and less preachy than previous films.

Of course, as the director who discovered Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi for the world, he does not disappoint with his selection of the leading actress. With Ni Ni, he has made us believe that no one else could have been playing the character of Yu Mo more believably, even if the role is not a believable one to start with.

Zhang Yimou is more of an artist than a storyteller. It helps that he has had a deep appreciation of Chinese history and culture, and access to a wealth of materials for him to make movies. He brings the best element out of his actresses, so that they find to their own surprise how much they embody their fictional characters. That is perhaps where he is better than other directors known more for their style than substance.