The Flowers of War

Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Zhang Yimou ('Raise the Red Lantern,' 'Ju Dou,' 'Hero,' 'House of the Flying Daggers') tells an epic story of love and sacrifice in /The Flowers of War,' starring Christian Bale and introducing Ni Ni.

The film, set during the Japanese invasion of China, is told from a young girl's point of view, not as a history lesson, but as an intimate, elemental and paradoxically universal celebration of the human spirit. Bale stars as a dissolute Westerner who seeks refuge in a Catholic Church. There he meets a beautiful Chinese courtesan who helps him rescue a group of schoolgirls from a terrible fate at the hands of the Japanese.

The film represents one of China's most ambitious productions, involving the recreation of 1937 Nanking built from scratch over a one-year period and the collaboration of one of Hollywood's most sought after leading men (Christian Bale).