EMPIRE OF THE SUN (43)

Directed by: Steven Spielberg (1987)

Starring: Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Nigel Havers

The Pitch: A spoiled rich English boy is separated from his parents during the 1941 Japanese invasion of Shanghai, and ends up in a POW camp.

Theo Sez: Second viewing, prompted by some critics' attempts to reassess this famous flop as a forgotten gem ; I needn't have bothered - it's still the same phony movie. Spielberg tries to connect to the dark side and just can't get through - the images are too radiant, the music score too twinkly, and his fondness for "big" uplifting moments keeps getting in the way : it's one epiphany after another, each more absurd and wrong-headed than the last. Random example, out of all too many : our young, flying-obsessed hero incurs a prison guard's wrath by wandering off to look at a plane, but is saved from summary execution by the appearance of three Japanese flyers, who recognise their common bond with the boy - yet Spielberg can't let it rest there (they've just saved his life for Chrissake! isn't that enough?) : the kid then salutes the pilots who slowly, framed in golden light, salute him back ; it's nauseating. Just about every directorial choice in the movie feels wrong, yet it does contain - i.e. Spielberg did manage to coax - one of the most powerful and compelling performances of the 80s (and, given Bale's career to date, "coax" is probably the operative word). That may be why the ending is so unexpectedly touching ; though whether Bale's beautiful reaction when Jim is finally reunited with his parents really needed a heavenly choir plastered all over it must remain a matter of opinion.