Empire of the Sun ***** (1987, Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson) – Classic Movie Review 833

Director Steven Spielberg borrows from the style of his film-making hero David Lean, paying reverential homage to the director of Lawrence of Arabia and The Bridge on the River Kwai, for his sweeping 1987 war epic taken from J G Ballard’s highly personal, semi-autobiographical novel.

The story centres on a privileged young English boy, James Graham (terrific young Christian Bale, aged 13), who is separated from his parents (Emily Richard, Rupert Frazer) in occupied China in World War Two when the Japanese invade Shanghai on December 8 1941. The resourceful kid is captured and interned alone at Soo Chow confinement camp, next to a captured Chinese airfield.

But, despite all the sickness and food shortages in the camp, he quickly learns to survive and prosper in the Japanese camp with a little help from a Yankee cynic called Basie (John Malkovich). He tries to reconstruct a version of his former life, while bringing spirit and dignity to all around him.

Spielberg’s movie is a beautifully, indeed lovingly crafted, movie with a great story to tell. It is a visually stunning as well as emotionally thrilling experience, with memorable characters brought to vivid life the help of an ensemble of outstanding support acting turns from a strong British support cast, including Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers, Leslie Phillips, Rupert Frazer, Emily Richard, Robert Stephens, Burt Kwouk and Paul McGann.

This undervalued film is serious popular movie-making on the grandest scale. It won Baftas for Best Cinematography (Allen Daviau), Best Score (John Williams) and Best Sound but its six Oscar nominations produced no wins. Ben Stiller and Joe Pantoliano are also in the fine cast.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 833

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The young Christian Bale, aged 13.