EMPIRE OF THE SUN
A film review Michael Lounsbery
Copyright 1987 Michael Lounsbery
Steven Spielberg's EMPIRE OF THE SUN is a masterful movie. The attention to details in the composition of each scene is a joy to watch. From a cliche'd opening view of water in Shanghai harbor that is suddenly rudely interrupted by floating coffins that are in turn shoved aside by a Japanese patrol boat to some of the most frantic and eerie crowd scenes, the film doesn't settle for casual ways to portray an event. The effect is a masterpiece.
The main character in EMPIRE OF THE SUN is an airplane-obsessed British schoolboy growing up in the British sector of Shanghai, just as World War II is becoming fierce. His experiences as he loses his family and is forced to fend for himself in a Japanese prison camp are wondrously textured.
Although I liked HOPE AND GLORY, a film with a somewhat similar theme, EMPIRE OF THE SUN seems vastly superior. HOPE AND GLORY has to rely on distracting subplots involving such trivialities as affairs between characters that have little do with the main point of the film. In EMPIRE OF THE SUN, such useless filler is avoided. Each scene does its bit to influence Jim's character and to add enlightening detail to the mood of the film. Perhaps the full three hours of film is not justified for the plot, and some extra cutting could have been made, but the rich texture would have suffered.
Among the more moving scenes in the film, one involving Japanese kamikaze pilots absolutely astounded me. The scene arises unexpectedly, and is masterfully handled to bring across the full tragedy and glory of the event without trivializing the emotion. I was wishing that it would be further dragged out, but the scene that follows arises perfectly and is itself wondrous as well.
The final scene in the film, although well done, is of a more typical style that most directors could have thought of and handled almost as well. The difficulty in bringing about the proper feelings in the kamikaze scene is shown even more sharply, when contrasted with the more conventional kind of scene that ends the movie. (Details omitted to avoid spoilers.)
The minute attention to detail that fills each scene was impressive, as was the historical accuracy. Such small items as a British silver half-crown with George VI or the insignia on Jim's school uniform, as well as larger ones such as each character speaking a believable language, adds an admirable layer of accuracy and a very fine texture to scenes that are already wonderfully composed.
The film at times reaches a dreamlike quality, such as in a scene near the beginning of the film when the British residents are all being chauffeured to a costume party through mobs of terrified Chinese fleeing the Japanese, or another beautiful yet eerie scene of a stadium filled with looted furniture, statues, and valuables. Such scenes are not inordinately or pretentiously dwelt upon (or worse, recalled through flashbacks), and after the film is over are among the more vivid and lasting images.
Despite its theme, the film comes across neither as brutally depressing nor mindlessly uplifting. The characters are all portrayed believably. Some of the Japanese guards are at times brutal, yet none are strictly seen as villains, and the film could never be seen as an anti-Japanese film. The Americans, who send in tremendous amounts of raw materials, either in the form of B-29 bombers ("the Cadillacs of the sky!") or oversized canisters of food, complete with Lucky Strikes and Hershey bars (where *do* they find Hershey bars that big these days?) are portrayed somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and are neither slandered nor unfairly glorified.
Although I saw it three days ago, I'm still moved by EMPIRE OF THE SUN. I consider it one of the best films I've seen. The plot is lightly sketched, but this in no way detracts from the simple joy of watching an amazingly crafted work. I admit that I failed to understand much of the hoopla associated with Spielberg on account of THE COLOR PURPLE, but EMPIRE OF THE SUN can only be a work of true genius.
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