The
Flowers of War
is a novel by Geling Yan. It is set in
Nanking, China during the infamous “Rape of Nanking” in 1937. Japanese soldiers have taken over the city
and a multitude of atrocities are taking place.
The soldiers are killing, raping, and looting. Thousands of Chinese civilians are
targeted. Corpses fill the streets. No one is safe even in the “Safety Zone”.
Father Engelmann is an American priest who
runs the St. Mary Magdalene mission. He
is sheltering around a dozen schoolgirls.
He is aided by his Deacon named Fabio.
His adopted “son” George is the simple-minded cook. With gunshots ringing consistently on the
outside, they pray that within the walls they will be safe. Things get more complicated when they are
joined by fourteen prostitutes and three Chinese soldiers. The mission is now very dysfunctional. The virginal, innocent girls are confronted
by the crass sexuality of the whores.
There are several verbal and even physical confrontations between them. Although some of the girls are orphans and
from the lower class, part of the girl/whore dynamic involves culture
clash. The two groups are segregated
with the girls in the attic and the whores in the cellar ( a bit heavy-handed
in the symbolism ). There is also the
conflict between the pacifist Father Engelmann and the soldiers. The Father insists the soldiers give up their
arms in an attempt to keep the mission neutral, in case the Japanese come
calling.
The main character is one of the
schoolgirls named Shujuan. Her parents
abandoned her and went to America. She
has issues. The book develops several
other characters. The leader of the
prostitutes is Yumo. She is high-class
and has the power to seduce any man. She
is the conscience of the whores and tries to keep them in line. She becomes romantically involved with Major
Dai – one of the soldiers who escaped the destruction of his command to take
refuge in the mission. The other two
soldiers miraculously survived the mass slaughter of over 5,000 prisoners. The flashback is one of the most memorable of
the novel.
It’s just a matter of time
before the war finds them. Meanwhile,
there are problems with the lack of food and water. As time passes, the girls and the prostitutes
thaw toward each other. Shujuan spends
time watching them through a ventilation shaft.
It’s eye-opening, but even more ear-opening.
All good things must come to an
end, however. Japanese soldiers arrive
and find the three soldiers. The
Japanese are thuggish and brutal. Father
Engelmann tries to stand up to them, but it is hopeless. None of the trio survives, but the females
are undiscovered. For now. Someone rats out the girls and the Japanese
return for them. Father Engelmann is
told they are wanted for entertainment at a party. He does not fall for that old one and manages
to delay the abduction. The solution is
simple math and involves the suddenly altruistic prostitutes.
The novel is surprisingly
good. Yan writes well with few
frills. The plot is not complicated, but
it is not predictable (except for the solution to the dilemma). The back-stories are interesting. The characters are appealingly drawn and you
care about them. Father Engelmann starts
off as priestily naïve about the Japanese, but he evolves into a hero. Yumo is the stereotypical prostitute with a
heart of gold, but she balances the whores with mouths of potty. Shujuan connects them together well. Yan writes teenage girl realistically. The main flaw is the implausibility of the
conclusion. Yan definitely stretches
credulity, but I have to admit it was satisfying.
The movie “The Flowers of War”
was released in 2011 and was directed by Zhang Yimou with a huge budget. He used part of the funds to hire Christian
Bale to play the main character – American mortician John Miller. A Chinese film with an American hero, imagine
that. The movie was a major hit in China
and went on to become the top grossing movie in Chinese history. It was nominated for several awards, but was
not a favorite of critics. Although
Geling Yan helped with the screenplay, the plot is very different than the
novel.
In the movie, the schoolgirls
and Miller arrive at the mission after running through the chaotic
streets. Father Engelmann is already
dead and only George is there. Miller is
the stereotypical Yank – crass, money-hungry, alcohol-loving. He is in need of redemption, naturally. The prostitutes arrive soon after. They are basically as depicted in the
book. Since the version I watched lacked
subtitles, I can only assume their dialogue was similar to the book. A stunning beauty named Ni Ni plays
Yumo. Miller hits on her in an
embarrassing way. “There’s no coffee.
Let’s get liquored up”. (A line not
taken from the book.) Major Li (the
movie combines Major Dai and Sergeant Li) arrives with the wounded young
soldier, followed shortly by rampaging
Japanese vermin who chase the girls all over the mission with rape on their
minds. The Japanese are distracted by a
sniping Li and charge off to go 40 on 1.
Li is a Chinese Rambo and takes most (if not all) of them with him in a
scene full of “Tae Guk Ri” spectacle with ridiculous explosions. The scene is cathartic and officially makes
the movie a war movie, but is nowhere in the book.
Miller decides to assume the
role of a priest. He shaves his scraggly
beard and hits the redemption road. A
new group of Japanese arrive led by the cultural (and seemingly human) Col.
Hasegawa. He apologizes for the previous
group and promises to return to hear the girls sing. He puts guards around the mission. Two of the whores manage to sneak out to get
some more pipa strings and to help advance the plot in two ways. First, Miller meets a friend who encourages
him to escape. No thanks, I want to go
to Heaven by continuing to masquerade as a priest. Second, we get another frenetic chase scene
culminating with a horrific glimpse at what will be in store for the girls if
they fall into Japanese hands. This
scene was briefly mentioned in the epilogue of the book.
After the girls sing angelically
for Hasegawa, he “invites” them to perform at a military celebration. Nothing to worry about. And yet…
The girls climb to the top of the tower to commit suicide and are only
dissuaded when Yumo and the other prostitutes offer to take their places. Lucky thing Miller is a mortician who can
make whores look like virginal thirteen year olds! Unfortunately, there are thirteen girls and
only twelve whores. (This math problem
does not appear in the novel.) Someone
needs to volunteer to become Georgette.
I have posited in the past that movies
based on books can and should be better than their source material. And I would argue that a majority are. This movie does not fit my theory. One major inferiority is the Miller
character. If ever a character was
shoe-horned into a movie, this one is.
He is nowhere to be found in the book and replaces the superior Father
Engelmann. The pre-redemption
personality is cringe-worthy and the redemption is cliché. The other huge flaw is the obvious attempt to
add “explosions” literally and figuratively.
The director and screenwriter (the non-Yan one) must have found the book
boring. They added three action scenes
and subtracted the mundane lack of food and water aspects. The movie sacrifices realism for pizzaz. Check out the prostitutes’ hair.
Caroline (Beauty is a Sleeping
Cat’s “Literature and War Readalong”) suggested that if we did not read the
book, we could substitute the movie. Not
a good suggestion. The movie is
radically different from the book. Where
the book has an implausible ending, the movie is rife with
implausibilities. However, the movie
does have its strengths. The acting is
good, except for pre-priest Bale. The
Shijuan and Yumo characters are well-played and accurately reflect the novel. Both the girls and the prostitutes are fine
(I guess, since I could not understand a word they were saying). The movie is visually stunning. The cinematography pulls out all the bells
and whistles (hand-held, slo-mo, low angle, etc.) The combat is reminiscent of Korean war films
like “Tae Guk Ri”. Watch out for flying
debris!
In conclusion, definitely read
the book and if you get a chance and have Netflix Instant, watch the
movie. Make sure you do it in that
order!
Book = B+
Movie = C+
the trailer