Empire of the Sun (film)

Empire of the Sun
Empire of the Sun movie poster
Directed by	Steven Spielberg
Written by	J. G. Ballard (novel) Tom Stoppard Menno Meyjes
Produced by	Kathleen Kennedy Frank Marshall Steven Spielberg
Starring	Christian Bale John Malkovich Miranda Richardson Nigel Havers
Cinematography	Allen Daviau
Edited by	Michael Kahn
Music by	John Williams
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	December 9, 1987
Running time	154 min.
Language	English/Japanese/Mandarin
Budget	$38,000,000 (estimated)

Empire of the Sun is a 1987 English language film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Christian Bale, John Malkovich, and Miranda Richardson. It is based on the novel of the same name by J.G. Ballard; the film's screenplay being adapted by Tom Stoppard and Menno Meyjes. The film was critically acclaimed, being nominated for six Oscars and winning three BAFTAs (for Cinematography, Music and Sound).

Bale received a special citation for Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor from the National Board of Review — an award specially created for his performance in Empire of the Sun.

Plot summary

In Shanghai, China, 1941, on the eve of the Japanese invasion of the foreign quarters of Shanghai (the city itself fell in December 1937), a young boy, James “Jamie” and later on "Jim" Graham, lives a privileged life. His father is a rich British businessman who owns a large house on the outskirts of Shanghai. Jim attends an exclusive prep school where he sings lead in the choir and is generally sheltered from the Chinese culture and people that surround him daily. Jamie is also rude to the servants his father employs in their house.

The invasion of Shanghai occurs within a few days of a costume party the family attends. Jamie’s father moves his family to a downtown hotel. The evacuation of the city begins immediately. Forced from their limousine, the Graham family find themselves crushed in amongst the crowds fleeing the Japanese Army. Jamie and his mother are forcibly separated from his father and within moments Jamie and his mother are forced apart by the crowds. His mother yells for him to run home as she is carried away. Jamie walks home and finds his house deserted. There is also a sign on the front door stating that the house is property of the Emperor of Japan. He also discovers signs of a struggle in his mother’s room. Jamie also finds two of his parents' servants taking furniture from the house. Asking what they are doing, he is astonished when one of them does not answer but instead slaps him with impunity.

Jamie lives in the house for an undetermined length of time, awaiting his parents' return. After what must be several months (indicated by the dropping level of water in the swimming pool) he ventures into Shanghai to find it occupied by the Japanese. He is chased through the city’s back alleys by an orphaned Chinese boy. As he tries to escape, he is nearly run over by a truck driven by an American, Frank. Frank takes Jamie to his partner, Basie, a self-centered American hiding out in an abandoned freighter in the harbor. He deftly steals several of Jamie’s personal belongings and assumes that the boy’s parents were captured with the other British who were unable to flee Shanghai. Basie gives Jamie a new nickname, “Jim.”

Basie and Frank try to rid themselves of Jim, offering to sell him to a Chinese man who would use him for manual labor. When Basie and Frank decide to abandon Jim to the streets, Jim tells them that he’ll show them houses in his former neighborhood with the promise of “rich pickings.” They travel to Jim’s old house and are captured by the Japanese who now occupy it. The trio are placed in a temporary detention center where living conditions are horrible. After a few days, a selection takes place; those who are chosen will be sent to an internment camp outside Shanghai. Basie is selected but Jim is not. Jim pleads with Basie to take him along but Basie ignores him. Jim’s tenacity pays off; he is able to convince the Japanese sergeant and the truck driver, who are seen arguing over a map, that he knows the location of the camp. He is allowed to guide the driver to the Soochow Creek Internment Camp. The passengers arrive at Soochow Creek and are quickly put to work constructing a runway for the Japanese airforce. Jim wanders away from the group and finds several Japanese Zeros.

The story then jumps ahead to 1945, a few months before the end of the Pacific Campaign of the war. Jim is now about 13 or 14 years old and has eked out a good living, despite the poor conditions of the camp. He has an extensive trading network, involving even the camp’s commanding officer, Sergeant Nagata. He is being schooled by the camp’s British doctor, Dr. Rawlins, who has a difficult time teaching Jim humility.

Jim visits Basie daily in the American men’s barracks of the camp. The Americans have a broad appeal for Jim; their lifestyle is considerably more relaxed and obviously more fun than that of their dull British counterparts. Jim’s goal is to impress Basie enough so that he can move into the American men’s barracks. Jim later rescues Dr. Rawlins from the wrath of Sgt. Nagata, who beats the doctor for defiance. As the doctor lies bleeding on the porch of the camp hospital, Jim delivers a humble speech to the sergeant, who stops the beating and storms off. As a reward, the doctor gives Jim a pair of golf shoes that belonged to a deceased patient.

Jim gets his chance to impress Basie when Basie charges him with setting snare traps outside the wire of the camp to catch wild pheasants that Basie claims have been roosting there. Jim creeps into the marsh undetected, but the golf shoes he left behind are discovered by Nagata, who tromps into the marsh to find the owner. Just as Nagata is about to find Jim, he is distracted by a Japanese boy from the air base on the other side of the wire, whom Jim has “befriended” despite their separation. Jim is able to escape undetected, and for having set the pheasant traps is allowed to move into the American barracks next to Basie. He is also given Frank’s bed.

In the meantime, Basie has been plotting to escape the camp. Though not explicitly revealed, Basie’s reason for sending Jim into the marsh was to test the area for mines. While they use a makeshift compass to plot direction, Nagata unexpectedly visits Basie’s corner of the barracks. He becomes enraged when he finds a bar of soap that was discreetly stolen by Jim earlier. He severely beats Basie, enough to send him to the infirmary. While being beaten, Basie had charged Jim with watching his possessions. Jim proves to be an inadequate protector and Basie’s things are stolen by the other men in his barracks. Jim leaves the American barracks in shame.

One morning at dawn, Jim witnesses a kamikaze ritual of three Japanese pilots at the air base. Overcome with emotion at the solemnity of the ceremony, he begins to sing the same Welsh hymn ("Suo Gân") he sang as a choir boy in Shanghai. As the pilots take off on their suicide mission, the base is attacked by a wing of P-51 Mustangs. Jim runs to the roof of a building, where he sees one of the pilots wave at him. Excited, he begins to cheer them on. The base is heavily damaged in a matter of minutes, Dr Rawlins finds Jim on the roof and brings Jim back to reality by telling him “not to think so much.”

The Japanese decide to evacuate the camp. Jim returns excitedly to the American barracks to tell Basie and finds out his friend has already escaped. Jim is devastated that Basie would abandon him for another American prisoner, Dainty, especially when Basie led Jim to believe he'd take the boy with him.

The camp's population begins a grueling march to Nantow where they are told there will be food. Many die along the way, including Mrs. Victor, a British woman who was Jim's "neighbour" at Suzhou. As Jim sits with her body among the war spoils stored in Nantow Stadium by the Japanese, Jim sees a bright light in the sky to the East. He believes it to be Mrs. Victor's soul floating to Heaven but finds out later, through a radio broadcast, that it was the flash from one of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, hundreds of miles away.

Starving and weak, Jim trudges back to the camp at Soochow. Making his way through rice paddies, he notices cylindrical objects attached to parachutes falling from the sky. They contain Red Cross relief packages and food items. Jim fills a parachute with supplies and arrives at the camp. He finds the same young Japanese boy he knew from his internment angrily slashing at the plants in the marsh with his samurai sword (earlier, the boy, now a pilot, had failed to start his plane as Jim and the other prisoners were leaving the camp). The boy offers Jim a mango and begins to cut it with his sword. A moment later he is shot dead by one of Basie’s companions, who have rushed into the camp, looting supply canisters. Jim is furious and throws the man who shot his friend into the marsh and begins to beat him. Basie drags him off and promises to take him back to Shanghai and find his parents. Jim refuses the offer and stays behind.

Jim is found by a unit of American soldiers. He is sent back to Shanghai and housed with other children who have lost their parents. Jim, obviously more scarred by his experiences during the war than the other kids, doesn’t recognize his parents when they arrive at the home and they scarcely recognize him. The paralysis is broken when his mother finds him in the crowd. Jim collapses into his mother’s arms.

Cast

Actor	Character
Christian Bale	Jim
John Malkovich	Basie
Miranda Richardson	Mrs Victor
Nigel Havers	Dr Rawlins
Joe Pantoliano	Frank Demarest
Leslie Phillips	Maxton
Masatō Ibu	Sgt Nagata
Emily Richard	Jim's mother
Rupert Frazer	Jim's father
Peter Gale	Mr. Victor
Takatoro Kataoka	Kamikaze boy pilot
Ben Stiller	Dainty
David Neidorf	Tiptree
Ralph Seymour	Cohen
Robert Stephens	Mr Lockwood
Zhai Nai She	Yang
Guts Ishimatsu	Sgt Uchida
Emma Piper	Amy Matthews
James Walker	Mr Radik
Jack Dearlove	Singing prisoner
Anna Turner	Mrs Gilmour
Ann Castle	Mrs Phillips
Yvonne Gilan	Mrs Lockwood
Ralph Michael	Mr Partridge
Sybil Maas	Mrs Hug

Trivia

• "Suo Gân", the movie's theme song, is a lullaby sung in Welsh. Director Steven Spielberg chose it after casting Christian Bale; who was born in Wales to English parents, as Jim. It was sung by James Rainbird.
• J.G. Ballard, the author, played a cameo as a guest in the masquerade party scene, however only quick glimpse of him can be seen in the final cut.
• The Japanese Zero fighters are in fact North American built AT-6 Harvard trainers modified to look like the Zero.
• Col Marshall (Tom Danaher) was a Marine night fighter pilot in the Pacific in WWII and was credited with shooting down the last Japanese bomber of the war. He also flies one of the Japanese "Zeros" in the movie.
• David Lean originally wanted to direct.
• The portion of the film set in the internment camp was significantly cut during editing. Many actors had their roles nearly turned into cameos, including Miranda Richardson and the others mentioned above.
• David Lean suggested Nigel Havers, for the role of Dr Rawlins.
• Film debuts of Christian Bale and Ben Stiller.