Sacrifices of War

I don't know whether or not you've heard about the Rape of Nanking, but everyone should know about it. Having captured the Chinese city, Japanese forces committed a near genocide against the population and devastated the city. Zhang Yimou's "Jīnlíng Shísān Chāi" ("The Flowers of War" in English) focuses on a Nanking church where an American (Christian Bale) takes up residence and then must protect the inhabitants from the occupying forces. The inhabitants are the schoolgirls, and also a group of prostitutes. Eventually, everyone faces a moral dilemma.

There are some very ugly scenes of the occupation. The Japanese occupation of China and Korea has never gotten the attention that the Nazi occupation of Europe has, but it was equally brutal (as was the Italian occupation of Ethiopia). The main focus here is on the events inside the church, but there is ample focus on the atrocities committed by the Japanese. The movie does a very good job in every way. It is always important to tell these stories so that they never happen again. I very much recommend the movie.

PS: Bale had previously starred in Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun", about a boy who gets separated from his parents in Japanese-occupied China. I also recommend that one.