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This movie has a lot of depth and a lot of heart. It was brutally honest in its retelling of a horrific event. And although it was made in China and some say that it is geared toward that group, i believe that the message is universal. Anyone with a soul and a heart could not leave the theatre without being affected by some element of the story. All the actresses were wonderful espeically the
This movie was made for a Chinese audience and plays to the Chinese culture that celebrates heroes who make the selfless, ultimate sacrifice. The story is interesting if not engaging.
If you are Chinese, you will cry about the brutality committed by Imperial Japanese Army in this movie. If you are Japanese, you will feel uncomfortable, shame to hate about this movie's message. This is the dividing line even today between China and Japan. As a movie, it hits hard with audience's emotions. After all we are all people.
Alright !!!
Critic Reviews powered by Metacritic ™
Movieline
Bale's presence in the film is a kind of misdirect, a calculated element intended to better its international commercial prospects -- his character makes a clumsily predictable journey from cynical drunken expat to hero willing to sacrifice a chance to escape the country in order to care for the children who've ended up in his charge. Full Review
Andrew Schenker
Slant Magazine
This film has too many weak, unconnected strands (what's the subplot about the narrator's father doing here anyway?), too much overtly expositional dialogue, and too unfocused a narrative to really cohere. And then there's that whole matter of expendable whores. Full Review
David Fear
Time Out New York
Zhang's mixture of unsparing violence, mawkish sentimentality and garish flourishes creates one uncomfortable aesthetic. Full Review
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News
The biggest problem, however, is the way Zhang romanticizes the unimaginably awful, turning gold-hearted prostitutes and virginal orphans into cinematic martyrs. Though his talents are vast, there may be too much truth in this particular story to suit his extravagant tastes. Full Review
Justin Chang
Variety
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. Full Review
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