IMDb > The Flowers of War (2011)
Jin líng shí san chai
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The Flowers of War (2011) More at IMDbPro »Jin líng shí san chai (original title)

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The Flowers of War -- A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's raid of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.
The Flowers of War -- Trailer for The Flowers of War

Overview

User Rating:
7.5/10   21,505 votes »
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Down 12% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Yimou Zhang
Writers:
Heng Liu (screenplay)
Geling Yan (novel)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Flowers of War on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
16 December 2011 (China) See more »
Genre:
Drama | History | War See more »
Plot:
A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's rape of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety. Full summary » | Full synopsis »
Plot Keywords:
See more »
Awards:
Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 6 nominations See more »
NewsDesk:
(36 articles)
Berlinale Diary 2012: Part Three
 (From SoundOnSight. 14 February 2012, 11:50 PM, PST)
Berlinale 2012. Competition Adds 7 Titles
 (From MUBI. 20 January 2012, 7:02 PM, PST)
Bel Ami, Shadow Dancer, A Royal Affair, Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate: Berlinale 2012
 (From Alt Film Guide. 20 January 2012, 12:42 PM, PST)
User Reviews:
best Zhang Yimou film in the past several years See more (103 total) »

Cast

  (in credits order)

Christian Bale ... John Miller

Ni Ni ... Yu Mo
Xinyi Zhang ... Shu (as Zhang Xinyi)
Tianyuan Huang ... George Chen (as Huang Tianyuan)
Xiting Han ... Yi (as Han Xiting)
Doudou Zhang ... Ling (as Zhang Doudou)

Dawei Tong ... Major Li
Atsurô Watabe ... Colonel Hasegawa (as Atsuro Watabe)
Kefan Cao ... Mr. Meng (as Cao Kefan)
Yangchunzi Yuan ... Mosquito (as Yuan Yangchunzi)
Jia Sun ... Hua (as Sun Jia)
Yuemin Li ... Dou (as Li Yuemin)
Bai Xue ... Lan
Takashi Yamanaka ... Lieutenant Asakura
Shigeo Kobayashi ... Lieutenant Kato

Paul Schneider ... Terry
Chun Li ... Woman of the Qin Huai River (as Li Chun)
Mengqiao Zhou ... Woman of the Qin Huai River (as Zhou Mengqiao)
Liuyin Qian ... Woman of the Qin Huai River (as Qian Liuyin)
Li Deng ... Woman of the Qin Huai River (as Deng Li)
Yu Zhou ... Woman of the Qin Huai River (as Zhou Yu)
Xiaomei Su ... Woman of the Qin Huai River (as Su Xiaomei)
Qingyuan Ye ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Ye Qingyuan)
Yaojun Dai ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Dai Yaojun)
Junran Shen ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Shen Junran)
Chuchu Li ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Li Chuchu)
Jingwen Wang ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Wang Jingwen)
Ruiqi Li ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Li Ruiqi)
Zixin Jin ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Jin Zixin)
Yixuan Gu ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Gu Yixuan)
Jiali Xu ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Xu Jiali)
Zhaoyi Zhang ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Zhang Zhaoyi)
Yimin Tan ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Tan Yimin)
Yicong Zhao ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Zhao Yicong)
Liwen Que ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Que Liwen)
Yuhan Wu ... Winchester Cathedral Student (as Wu Yuhan)
Hai-Bo Huang ... Peng (as Huang Haibo)
Liangqi Zhu ... Pu Sheng (as Zhu Liangqi)
Shawn Dou ... Chinese Soldier
Yuan Nie ... Chinese Soldier (as Nie Yuan)
Jingchun Wang ... Chinese Soldier (as Wang Jingchun)
Xi Lai ... Chinese Soldier (as Lai Xi)
Xiaoming Guo ... Chinese Soldier (as Guo Xiaoming)
Yuzheng Wang ... Chinese Soldier (as Wang Yuzheng)
Cong Wang ... Chinese Soldier (as Wang Cong)
Li Fei ... Chinese Soldier
Chaobei Wang ... Chinese Soldier (as Wang Chaobei)
Yohei Matsukado ... Japanese Military Outside Affairs Officer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:

Junichi Kajioka ... Japanese Machinegun Soldier (uncredited)
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Directed by
Yimou Zhang 
 
Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
Heng Liu  screenplay
Geling Yan  novel

Produced by
Chaoying Deng .... executive producer
William Kong .... executive producer
David Linde .... executive producer
Leo Shi Young .... executive producer
Weiping Zhang .... producer
 
Original Music by
Qigang Chen 
 
Cinematography by
Xiaoding Zhao (director of photography)
 
Film Editing by
Peicong Meng 
 
Production Design by
Yohei Taneda 
 
Set Decoration by
Yoshihito Akatsuka 
 
Costume Design by
William Chang 
Graciela Mazón 
 
Makeup Department
Xiaohai Yang .... key makeup artist
 
Art Department
Yingzhang Fu .... set designer
Shinsuke Kojima .... conceptual designer
Cosmin Sarbulescu .... digital matte painter
Briseide Siciliano .... set designer
 
Sound Department
James Ashton .... dialogue editor
James Ashton .... sound re-recording mixer
Steve Burgess .... sound re-recording mixer
Steve Burgess .... supervising sound editor
Huijun Cao .... boom operator
Adam Connelly .... foley recordist
Hao Gang .... sound recordist
Chris Goodes .... sound effects editor
Wei He .... sound re-recording mixer
Zheng 'Joe' Huang .... foley editor
Zheng 'Joe' Huang .... sound effects editor
Hongrui Ji .... sound effects editor
Lian Luan .... sound recordist
Robert Mackenzie .... sound effects editor
Bingyang Mao .... boom operator
Xu Miao .... foley artist
Michael Miller .... adr mixer
Roger Savage .... sound re-recording mixer
Jing Tao .... sound mixer
Jing Tao .... supervising sound editor
Yinan Tu .... sound effects editor
Mario Vaccaro .... foley artist
Baiyang Wang .... dialogue editor
Lizhong Wang .... boom operator
Wei Wang .... foley editor
Andy Wright .... foley recordist
Jing Xiao .... sound mixer
Yanchao Yang .... foley editor
Tian Yong .... sound effects editor
Yijing Zhang .... dialogue editor
Zhigang Zhang .... sound recordist
 
Special Effects by
Wesley Barnard .... special effects
Genevieve Bevan-John .... special effects technician
Bruce Bright .... senior special effects technician
Jabin Dickins .... senior special effects technician
Rob Heggie .... on-set supervisor
Jim Leng .... senior special effects technician
Simon Quinn .... senior technician
Andy Williams .... special effects supervisor: Darkside Effects
 
Visual Effects by
Di Cai .... compositor
Nicolas Chavigny .... matte painter
Aurelian Cojocaru .... digital compositor
Nicolae-Gheorghe Cojocaru .... visual effects artist
Adrian Costea .... lead matchmove
Bill George .... consulting visual effects supervisor
Nick Hsieh .... compositing supervisor: Base FX
Yanming Jiang .... visual effects producer
Peng Ke .... visual effects supervisor
Felix Lepadatu .... visual effects supervisor
Razvan Margineanu .... digital compositor
Giuseppe Motta .... cg supervisor
Michael Nikitin .... compositor
Chuang Niu .... visual effects artist
Claudiu Olaru .... matchmover
George Palcut .... digital compositor
Gu Pinghu .... visual effects producer
Yu Qian .... layout & matchmove lead
Alexandru Ion Radu .... digital compositor
Alexandru Ion Radu .... visual effects production manager
Julien Record .... digital compositor
Gareth Repton .... visual effects artist
Paulina Rodriguez Lemus .... digital artist
Aurelian Vulpasu .... visual effects producer
Aurelian Vulpasu .... visual effects production manager
Mike Wallner .... fx artist
Joss Williams .... visual effects supervisor
Fu Xiao .... digital compositor
 
Stunts
Bruce Law .... action director
Fatih Ugurlu .... stunt double: Christian Bale
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Raymond Lam .... camera operator
Raymond Lam .... steadicam operator
 
Casting Department
Eriko Miyagawa .... casting
 
Editorial Department
Andre Coutu .... post-production coordinator
Kevin Downer .... assistant digital intermediate editor
 
Music Department
Chen Yu Li .... score mixer
Allmänna Sången .... musician
Michael Seifert .... assistant music mixer (uncredited)
Michael Seifert .... assistant score recordist (uncredited)
Michael Seifert .... pro tools operator (uncredited)
 
Other crew
Dana Archer .... public relations
Annemarie Jacir .... mentoree
Jennifer Semler .... production executive
Andre Coutu .... coordinator of global post production (uncredited)
 

Production CompaniesDistributorsSpecial EffectsOther Companies
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
"Jin líng shí san chai" - China (original title)
See more »
MPAA:
Rated R for strong violence including a sexual assault, disturbing images, and brief strong language
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parents
Runtime:
146 min
Country:
China | Hong Kong
Language:
Mandarin | English | Japanese | Shanghainese
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 See more »
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital | Datasat
Certification:
USA:R | Hong Kong:IIB | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | Portugal:M/16
Company:
Beijing New Picture Film Co.See more »

Did You Know?

Trivia:
In 2011, Yimou Zhang selected Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir to be his first protégé and invited her work closely with him on the set during production of this film as well as with him in the editing room and post production.See more »

FAQ

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User Reviews

   (Review this title)
62 out of 79 people found the following review useful.
best Zhang Yimou film in the past several years, 18 December 2011
Author: shang_libin from Beijing, China

Watched "The flowers of war" on Dec 19, 2011, the 2nd day this film was released in mainland China. The movie theater is fully packed. This is the best film directed by Zhang Yimou after "Hero" in 2002. This is not a surprise because in my opinion all his films after "Hero" have very awful/terrible screen scripts, while this one is based on a well composed novel. The story is about how a dozen of prostitutes saved girl students from uncivilized Japanese soldiers during the Nanjing(Nanking) massacre period (starting from Dec. 13, 1937, lasted for two weeks, 300,000 murdered, 80,000 raped). To Chinese, this is the saddest and most humiliated moment in the 20th century. The script is not based on true stories, painfully the true stories are much worse, because there wasn't a savior, there's only constant desperation. The characters themselves are well described. The logic flow and mentality transition in this film are not delineated very well. I still gave it 8 out 10 because I think it's due to the limitation of the film's length. As always, Mr. Bale is good at acting in this film, but definitely not his best character such as those in "American Psycho" or "The Prestige". The two leading actresses are both new face. They'll become very famous in China after this film, but I don't think their performances are as impressive as Gong Li, who collaborated with Zhang Yimou in many of his early works. Last but not the least, there is a 1-minute romance scene which I think is the worst part in this film, because under such a tragic circumstance it's very unnatural to practice love, and it dampens the character build-up in many ways.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Flowers of War (2011)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Good film, but a bit too graphic? ant_1213
best case scenario for the women? rmtg
how did they convince the japanese actors to participate? daddygotblues
Anybody just glad that a high profile movie about the Nanjing Massacre w thextramile
Ouch - just 27% on the RT meter right now Westerngal12
If really a true story who was Bale in real life? old-dude
See more »

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