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EMPIRE OF THE SUN
Steven Spielberg, USA, 1987
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Empire of the Sun is based on JG Ballard's autobiographical bestseller, published to enormous acclaim in 1984. Director Steven Spielberg simplifies the tale and removes many of the novel's teasing ambiguities but he successfully captures the central character's fascination with the madness of adulthood, the endless stream of strange and desperate people, and the sense of wonder elicited by the war's power and omnipresence.
Screenplay writer Tom Stoppard divides the film into three. We first meet young Jamie Graham in Shanghai, 1941. He's an ex-pat brat, spoilt and snapping commands to his family's servants. But war explodes like an Atomic bomb and he becomes separated from his parents while in the frantic, newly militarised city. Confusion replaces confidence and Jamie is taken to a 'Civic Assembly Centre' in Lunghua - a kind of POW camp for civilians, where he spends the next several years under the tutorage of the crafty but charismatic Basie. Jamie is rechristened Jim and evolves into a swaggering, Americanised, Artful Dodger, until war stops being a game and he veers from painful sensitivity to dehumanised detachment.
As with the novel, there are flashes of heroism but no heroes. At Lunghua, Jim is taught that when starving, "People will do anything for a potato", and the adult inmates seem intent on underlining this lesson. Welsh teenager Christian Bale delivers an excellent debut performance as the increasingly pragmatic youngster. But plaudits must also go to John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers and the wonderful Leslie Phillips who create credible, memorable characters, adding colour and depth to Jim's incomprehensible world.
Anthony Burgess called the novel "almost intolerably moving", and due to his sparing use of sentimentality, Spielberg ensures that certain scenes remain powerful and affecting. Certainly, Ballard was delighted by the director's vision. "In many ways, Spielberg is the Puccini of cinema," he commented, "He may be a little too sweet for some tastes, but what melodies, what orchestrations, what cathedrals of emotions...."
Gavin Collinson
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The then-fledgling actor, Ben Stiller, has a small role as 'Dainty', while veteran star Sir Robert Stephens delivers one of his final performances as Lockwood.
