Empire of the Sun

Title: Empire of the Sun
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Joe Pantoliano
Year: 1987
MPAA: Rated PG for violence and mild language.
Date of Review: October 28, 2006

Throughout Steven Spielberg's career, he has often made films in which children experience traumatizing events and meet overwhelming odds - and they usually handle things a lot better than the adults. Empire of the Sun is the culmination of all of these themes of childhood strength and courage, and is one of Spielberg's best films.

Starring Christian Bale as the young Jim Graham who loses his parents while living in Japan on the backend of World War II, Empire of the Sun tells the story of Jim's survival as he encounters an array of colourful characters and comes to realize the lengths people will go to to save themselves. One such character is Basie, played by John Malkovich, whose intentions are never really known, but his craftiness, intelligence and natural sense of leadership keep him alive.

Since the film sees the war through the eyes of Jim, a great sense of wonder and naivety is added to the action. The audience is never shown the enemy's face, and battle scenes are done very theatrically, so that when we see Jim cheering as the planes wiz by and drop bombs, we can't help but also be in a sense of awe. Spielberg shows us beauty in destruction and death.

Empire of the Sun is also one of Spielberg's most genuinely emotional films, without resorting to tearjerking or overly sentimental scenes. Christian Bale's performance as Jim is astounding, and one of the best lead performances by a child actor ever. He embodies both the resourcefulness and the ignorance of the events around him very well, and his delivery of dialogue is very realistic. One line that really hits hard occurs after he cheers on the planes attacking the internment camp, and says to the doctor, "I forget what my parents look like."

Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun is a film of great beauty and humanity. It shows both the horrors of battle, and the extremes people will go to (both good and bad) in order to survive. It's also incredible to see that Christian Bale's talent was so apparent even at a young age.

9/10