Empire of the Sun (1987, PG)

Steven Spielberg considers Empire of the Sun his most deep and moving work on the loss of innocence.  Quite frankly, I consider Empire of the Sun to be one of Spielberg’s most overlooked films. 

            This was the first starring role for Christian Bale, today a popular movie star.  This film pretty much kicked him off into stardom.  Bale was 12 when cast and 13 when he played the part.  He stars as Jim Graham, the son of a wealthy English aristocrat family living in Shanghai.  The film starts in 1941, with a prologue stating that Japan and China have been engaged in a state of undeclared war for 4 years, and that Japanese troops are rapidly conquering cities and the countryside.  Jim has an obsession with airplanes and pilots. He frequently plays around with toy airplanes and marvels at sitting inside a destroyed Japanese Zero.

             Soon enough, the Japanese attack and conquer Shanghai, and Jim is separated from his parents.  He returns to his mansion, to find no one, and then wanders the streets of Shanghai, eventually meeting up with an American named Basie (John Malkovich).  They are captured by Japanese troops and, along with several others British and American people, are sent to Suzhou Creek internment camp.  There, Jim makes several new friends, including friends of the Japanese, and plots with Basie and his buddies to escape.  However, Jim also slowly loses knowledge of his parents, and in time, completely forgets of what they looked like. 

            Empire of the Sun was only moderately successful at the box-office, and received positive reviews upon release.  It was also nominated for a number of Academy Awards.  

            At 2 ½ hours, the movie is overlong.  Spielberg nevertheless explores the era of the film, and we get a very authentic feel for the internment camps.  Despite this, Empire of the Sun is only mildly engaging, and somewhat entertaining, and is also not memorable.

            I would still have to consider this an overlooked Spielberg film that is nevertheless not one of his best.  Bale gives a masterful juvenile performance as Jim, and Malkovich is satisfactory in his role.  Even so, Empire of the Sun only barelly gets a pass.

                                    ***/5