The Beautiful Photography and Remarkable Performances - Admission/Application Essay Example

The Flowers of War On 20th, December in the New York Times movie review section, Mike Hale wrote, “A Shady American in the Nanjing Massacre” just after the release of the movie. Hale outlined that, “finally, it appears, every pointless waste of life gets its delicate tear-jerker”. Mike said that that was almost the only way to justify the movie film “The Flowers of War.” In the movie, the veteran Chinese director Zhang Yimou returned to the 1937 Nanjing massacre. Yimou made something similar to a backstage musical, with short breaks for the random shocking rape or murder (Hale 1). On 3rd August 2012, Chris Tookie of the Daily Mail wrote “Chinas great leap forward: The Flowers of War is the China’s most prized film ever and - starring Americas Christian Bale - it demonstrates Beijing can give Hollywood a run for its money.” Tookie was talking about the movie film, ‘the flowers of war’. In Chris’ statement, “here is the most ambitious and expensive film in the history of Chinese, shot over almost six months by the country’s pre-eminent director ,the man responsible for those impressive if impersonal Olympic ceremonies four years ago”, he described the film and the director. According to Tookie, China’s most celebrated auteur is of his class act and can deliver more than just a well-drilled display. On 5th August 2012, in the same U.K., Philip French of The Guardian also reviewed ‘The Flowers of War.’ According to French, Zhang Yimou was at his peak again. French said, “Zhang Yimou, one of the best of the best Chinas talented film-makers and director had imprudently imposed an essentially fictionalized story on an appalling incident. The incident is one of the very worst atrocities of an atrocious 20th century. The atrocity is of Japanese 1937-38 siege, destruction and demolition of Nanking in the winter, which resulted in the killing and massacre of some 300,000 Chinese civilians (French 1). ‘The Flowers of War’ is a 2011 Chinese historical drama and World War II film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring America’s great Christian Bale (Hale 1). The film is based on Geling Yan’s novel, ‘13 Flowers of Nanjing’, and inspired by the diary of Minnie Vautrin. The setting of the story is in Nanking, China, during the 1937-1938 rape and massacre of Nanking City in the Second Sino-Japanese War. As the story goes, during the war, groups of escapees were finding refuge in a church compound. They were trying to survive the persecution and plight brought on by the violent invasion of the city when they met problem. The film demonstrated Yimou’s talent and clamor to retain he celebrated name as China’s best film and movie producer (Tookie 1). According to the Pollard (1), ‘The Flowers of War’ was nominated as the best Chinese item for Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards, though it did not win. Again, it received an appointment for the 69th Golden Globe Awards. Additionally, the 6th Asian Film Awards gave ‘The Flowers of War’, several individual nominations, including the Best Film of the year. In North America, Wrekin Hill Entertainment acquired the film’s distribution rights in association with Row 1 Productions. The acquisition led to an Oscar-qualifying limited release in Americas New york City, San Francisco and Los Angeles late December 2011, with its basic release in January 2012 (Hale 1). Since its production and release the film has gained both national and global praises (Pollard 1). A story that runs for 146 minutes (two hours, twenty-five minutes and fifty seven seconds to be precise) details Japanese imperial army invasion in china and their atrocities including rape and massacre. The plot of the story details the role of John Miller (Bale) in posing as a priest, in conjunction with a group of prostitutes, in saving 13 school girls from an advancing Japanese Army. As the film ends the truck, which John Miller repaired in the convent, is seen driving on an empty highway headed to the western direction, away from the proceeding Japanese army. The destiny of the ‘13 Flowers’ (girls) rests unknown, seemingly martyring themselves for the students freedom, as the prostitutes head to sacrifice their lives towards the advancing Japanese troops in the image of the school girls (French 1). In reference to Pollard (1), the writer of the novel that gave rise to the film, Geling Yan, said that she was encouraged to write the novel after reading an account in Minnie Vautrin diary during the WW2. Vautrin was an American missionary in China who ran a girls-only college in Nanjing during the war. His college became a haven for students and women alike in the city, as well as some prostitutes. Whilst the author was motivated by the Minnie Vautrin’s account, she decided to tell the story of the massacre as seen by the eyes of a 13-year-old girl. The story is not very factious as events happen in real time. However, real fiction comes in some elements. Bale (John Miller), offers an unrestrained presentation as a mercenary American mortician. More fictitious is that he initially fakes his identity as a priest to save himself from the Chinese. Ultimately, he becomes a saintly character when he helps a dozen whores sacrifice themselves to safeguard teenage convent girls from rape and mutilation. Another fiction arises when one of the girls father arrives to save his child. It is fictitious how, in the heart of the war, a father would pass the soldiers to reach out to his child (Hale 1). The tale of ‘Flowers of War’ is inspired by true war-events", but it is not clear how closely fictitious the events are happening (Tookie 1). It is very unfortunate that Yan did not take advantage of the potentials of fiction to offer a more realistic, very revealing and less comfortable ending. According to BBC’s Lawrence Pollard despite her far-reaching research, Ms. Yan said that she did not want her fictional account to be viewed as a historical record. Pollard excerpted Ms. Yan saying "The account is simply fiction and a literary novel, and my hope it that it remains that way." However, the movie provided loopholes for realistic fiction. As the story begins, a wall appears to explode from nowhere and save Miller from the soldiers’ bullet that is very unrealistic (French 1). It would be very difficult, for example, in the turn of events Miller’s conversion from opportunist to savior may be farfetched but realistic. It is a stock element of the movie. As the screen shows in the scene it was a total showcase as his transformation rush is unappealing and ineffective. Additionally, the costumes and war instruments are not of early 20th century. They appear to be 21st century costumes (French 1). As common with most other movies, this movie received mixed reviews. First, Rotten Tomatoes described it in a 41% critical approval rating giving it an average of 5.5 out of 10. Metacritic also assigned the film a 46% average score based on 22 reviews from its mainstream critics. Twitch Film termed it "debatably the most excitedly-awaited Chinese movie of the year (Hale 1)." Twitched said that "The Flowers of War” is a giant movie in every world’s sense, from its dynamic battle scenes to the beautiful photography and remarkable performances. He continues to applause it from an overwhelmingly young and inexperienced cast (French 1). Pete Hammond of the Box-office Magazine gave the film a rating of 4 stars of 5. Hammond said that "The Flowers of War” is eventually a stirring, inspiring unforgettable human drama in the face of a dismaying war and therefore is highly recommended.” Variety gave positive reviews, most of whom described the film as “an exclusively traumatic account of the rape of Nanjing.” Still, more reviews defined it as “a work of often bright dramatic superfluities yet undisputable emotional power, finding heartbreak and humor in a tale of doubtful heroism in close quarters” (Tookie 1). Most negative criticisms were similar to that from Toronto Star that gave the film 2.5 out of 4 (Pollard 1). Toronto star’s reason was “the drama is every so often weakened by the weakness of creating spectacles.” Roger Ebert offered the film two stars out of four. Ebert took issue with centering the story on a foreigner, white American. Ebert’s arguments were simple but difficult and realistic questions. He asked, "Can anyone think of a reason the main character John Miller is required to tell his story? Was any deliberation given to the option of a Chinese priest? Would giving an opportunity to a Chinese priest be asking for too much?” (Pollard 1) In most other reviews, the movie was criticized in three fronts. First about the "a white man saving Chinese natives" angle is unfair criticism (Hale 1). Miller received much of screen time and utilized it well. Second is about excessive romanticism and far-fetched plot. Zhang used the hesitant hero model on Miller, and the arc of the story is comparatively conventional. The producer might have also used very many slow-motion shots and protracted some sequences, but the sentimental and romantic parts of the story are rather in effect and consistent with his style (Tookie 1). Third is about the depiction of Japanese soldiers. Many critics indicted this movie of being one dimensional in depicting Japanese soldiers, which is not true (French 1). According to Hale (1), there are however some highlight worth mentioning in the film. The church boy who played the character George provided a wonderful and commendable performance. George even overshadows Bale (Miller) in some scenes. Second, The Nanjing language in this movie film is abundant and adds considerable genuineness to the characters. Also, the music is brilliantly low-key and fittingly Chinese. Since its production, the movie has not attained any review from any of the historical journals and neither had it received any review in the Jewish publications. Additionally, it has not earned any book or documentary-review. However, many publications, precisely newspapers, and websites have reviewed the movie. The movie earned a review even from BBC, CNN and the New York Times and the U.K. Guardian. It is considered among the greatest movies in 2011. Critics said that the film appears nationalistic and anti-Japanese, but Ms. Yan said that was not her aim. According to Ms. Yen one of her novels main themes was the clash between experience and innocence. Innocence-vs.-experience is an irrefutably strong theme in the film. The girls warm adolescence intensifies its impact, particularly given the chronological facts. The Nanking Extermination is also identified as the Rape of Nanking, and it is even more than a figurative description. The Japanese raiders committed dreadful sexual assaults against the Chinese female population. In "the Flowers of war," the safety of the girls becomes the principal concern of the war survivors holed up in the church. Even though their other themes, this is the greatest theme according to the novel author (Hale 1). Works Cited French, Phillip. "The Flowers of War ? review | Film | The Guardian." The Guardian. The Guardian/The Observer, 5 Aug. 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. Hale, Mike. "Flowers of War - Zhang Yimou on Nanjing Massacre - Review - NYTimes.com. "The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. The New York Times, 20 Dec. 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. . Pollard, Lawrence. "The story behind Chinese war epic The Flowers of War." BBC News. BBC, 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. . Tookey, Chris. "The Flowers of War review: Christian Bale film proves China can give Hollywood a run for its money | Daily Mail Online." Mail Online. Daily Mail, 3 Aug. 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. . Read More