A Chinese historical drama, Flowers of War springs Christian Bale in a very non-Batman role. He’s a mortician forced to play the role of priest in a Chinese orphanage when he arrives to bury that priest and finds himself trapped inside of Nanjing.
John Miller (Bale) doesn’t seem to have many people skills, and there are certainly some funny scenes which play out as he tries to figure his way around the kids of the orphanage and the teenage prostitutes that he soon provides shelter for. He wants money, alcohol, and sex, and those things just happen to be in short supply in the middle of this ugly war.
Special features here take us behind the scenes of the movie, using information about the actors and the types of people they play (out of a historical background) to show us more of the war we’re watching cinematically conveyed in front of us. This one is in high definition for detail and beauty, and there’s beauty and power in the story that unfolds here.
While it’s not my favorite Bale movie, it’s entertaining and thought-provoking. How would we respond if pressed into duty? What would it look like for you to care for someone you had no compassion for before? How could you come to appreciate the situation you were in through someone else’s eyes? There’s no way around it for Miller—he must get involved.
