mettafriend
Are you kidding me? 7/10 or whatever the popular vote was? This is a classic. 10/10. If you liked "Empire of the Sun," one of Christian Bale's earliest film roles, or "The Pianist," and/or have an affinity for real human tragedy and depths of compassion and integrity that can blossom from the lowest of human intentions - then please, watch this! For American viewers, this film offers the opportunity to step into the shoes of others who have suffered in war and at the hand of foreign invaders. Great job Christian Bale and the many Chinese actors and actresses who made this film believable!
iMan JavaheryPour
The Flowers of War. The name of this movie is chosen perfectly. Several moments during the show, I was about to weep, to shout and cry along the girls. It is so touching. It is so beautiful. Another masterpiece of Zhang Yimou. It comes with beautiful visuals, pleasant musics. As the signature of Yimou, the colour and sound play very well in entire movie. The war scenes are so cruel, so brutal and horrible in terms of conveying and showing the nature of wars. The rape scenes are so so terrifying. And at the end, what you think is, shame on us, on all of humans that make the earth a very unsafe and horrible place for women and children. Thanks to all crew for making this excellent movie.
Bao Fang
The first time I watched this film, I thought it was perfect. Then because of my research, I watched this film a couple of times more and spotted the problematic perspectives of it. The film has indeed presented humanity, courage and love in the anti-Japanese time from a unique and creative point of view, thanks to the excellent story from the original novel under the same name. However, the filmmaker's alleged effort to meet the expectations from the audience at home or abroad seems to be too much, as the 'eroticism'- related scenes are not so compatible or even contradict with the atrocity and cruelty of war and the destructive harm on those innocent souls in the film. Nevertheless, the film is still incredibly powerful. Again, I watched the film with the sound off due to the need of my research, but still I cried many times during the whole time for the heart- wrenching story. I cry every time I watch it, even if I remember pretty much every minute of the plot.
Sudipto Basu
A very heart rending story about a small group of teenage girl students of a Catholic school and an equal number of prostitutes from Nanking's red light area. Along with a American mortician who starts off to be selfish and money driven but slowly evolves to a guardian angel and devices way to protect the innocence and life of the teenage students. Also touching is the supreme sacrifice made by the prostitutes to safeguard the students which had initially started out as a relation of hatred. The story explores the human behavior and unlikely sacrifices made under the conditions of war. Watching the movie based on subtitles may be a bit of cumbersome but the storyline is worth it.
AD
