Steven Spielberg, the greatest living director of our time, has attempted to take on the most formidable projects in cinema history throughout his career and, by and large, has succeeded. Only Oliver Stone has enjoyed a comparable track record, alternating monumental historical portraits with immortal works of pop culture. Stone, however, remains in the back seat as works such as JFK and Nixon never reached the heights of Schindler's List or The Color Purple. No one else, save for possibly Francis Ford Coppola, has come close.

Unfortunately, film buffs the world over seemed to have overlooked Empire, mostly due to its subject matter and lack of significance from an American point of view. The moment in time that Spielberg portrays makes this more than worth the while for any film buff and/or history enthusiast remotely intrigued by the significance of the Japanese excursion into China during WWII.

Christian Bale scores a big win as Jim, a spoiled pre-teen English lad fascinated by the science of aeronautics. His precocious curiosity brings him beyond the upper-class fantasies of his parents' charmed British colonial life into the harsh reality of the desperate Chinese homeland defense against the oncoming Nipponese invasion. To his parents' astonishment, the Rising Sun of the Jap war machine does indeed set upon the British Empire despite the popular axiom, and Jim finds himself cast adrift in a sea of bedlam as his parents are hauled off to a concentration camp. He avoids death by starvation by siding in with Basie (John Malkovich), an OSS operative in flight from the occupation forces. Eventually China is secured by the Japs, resulting in the odd couple's incarceration. Jim spends the next crucial formative years of his youth as a POW, the game of death played with the same childish recklessness that any normal boy would exhibit during the same stage of maturation. Only the excruciation of his situation has an effect that we find enduring, although our hero adapts and overcomes (to our relief) in the final reel.

The theme of survival is essential here, and with it comes a significant element that most historians tend to overlook. Much like both sides during the American Civil War, the Japanese seriously underestimated their capacity to maintain the overwhelming number of POW's they were to amass. As a result, thousands starved to death due to the lack of the tiny nation's ability to feed its prisoners. We first see the Chinese reduced to starving foragers within the imperialist British economy, then the tables are turned as the British are reduced to a potato-a-day ration in the camps. Finally it is the Japanese who are the ultimate losers, ravaged by the war in the Pacific and decimated by Harry T's atomic bombs. It is Jim's spirit that continues to soar, and we see the symbolism of his flight fantasies that help him to coast over the myriad of dangers ever present in his microcosm.

Miranda Richardson as Mrs. Victor plays a strong role as a surrogate mother who desperately tries to hang on, first to the routine of daily life, then to physical life itself. Jim does his best to steady the balance of the lives of all concerned. He acts as a child figure for Mrs. Victor, a go-fer for Basie and his ring of blackmarketers, and a nurse for the beleaguered Nigel Havers as Dr. Rawlins, the camp doctor with his finger in the dike resisting the flood of disease and death. Even Sgt. Nagata (Masato Ibu), the camp commander, abandons his position in the finale with the grudging compliment: "You a very difficult boy". His spirit cannot be quenched, his will to live indomitable, and his boyish attitude proves infectious to both the cast of characters and the audience. Only the thousand-mile stare in his eyes of age remains as a haunting memento as he is returned to the bosom of his mother at last. War may be hell, but heaven is where the heart is, and Jim has enough for us all.

If anything, this flick will stand alongside Pearl Harbor as a solid argument for revisionists against the annihilation of Japan, the only nation to have ever suffered an atomic strike. It'll probably be right there collecting dust as well, so I suggest you snatch a copy before it disappears entirely. Although one of Spielberg's less heralded efforts, its place in cinema history as a landmark effort is not to be denied.




Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older