The Flowers of War

Ultimately an inspiring, stirring and unforgettable human drama in the face of a horrifying war. It is highly recommended.

Scene by scene, The Flowers of War is an erratic and ungainly piece of storytelling, full of melodramatic twists and grotesque visual excesses (a bullet pierces first a stained-glass window and then a girl's neck), which are nonetheless delivered with startling conviction.

Less about the thousands who died in the Nanking massacre than about how stunning it all looked, Zhang Yimou's epic puts Bale in the midst of a lavish nightmare.

Now let me ask you: Can you think of any reason the character John Miller is needed to tell his story? Was any consideration given to the possibility of a Chinese priest? Would that be asking for too much?

The film is cinematically brilliant but morally obtuse.

Zhang's mixture of unsparing violence, mawkish sentimentality and garish flourishes creates one uncomfortable aesthetic.

Zhang Yimou, one of China's best-known filmmakers, deserves a great big lump of coal in his holiday stocking thanks to his ludicrous soap opera The Flowers of War.

There is no honorable war. It's all terrible. Don't agree, think of it this way: how are the deaths of 300,000 Chinese innocents and the **** of 20,000 Chinese women honorable? It's not. "The Flowers of War" isn't just an effective anti-war film, but a powerful picture on what it means to be human.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

-sacking of Nanking characterized by historical reference to **** -clever plot structure juxtaposing highly sexual prostitutes and asexual church students, depicts some harsh realities but omits some scenes rather than going overboard for shock value -could have done more to reflect political positions in control, sale, experience, and morals in sexuality of characters (see Lust Caution) -beautifully shot war scenes and costume -American (Bale) and Japanese were stereotyped caricatures -characters not developed and background facts haphazardly added without connection to plot

Sounds like we got over here a bunch of hardcore fans of Zhang Yimou from his home country, or Chna boosters in general. It's really not that good a movie. Evidently director Zhang tried extremely hard to appease the western critics in order to win an Oscar but the end result is both shallow and obvious.

I gave up after 10 minutes. Imagine Nanking(2007) with the flippant humour of an Indian Jones movie and you have , in essence, this sorry sorry excuse for a movie. Its awful. I am embarrassed for the director . And i can only imagine how Mr Bale feels. Its actually a bit disturbing how the death of children can be inter-mixed with humour. I feel somewhat disgusted by the movie and i can only hope that it quickly disappears and will not be for general release.