Zhang Yimou‘s The Flowers of War made a big statement less than a month ago when China submit it as their Foreign Language Oscar contender. The film stars Christian Bale and is an adaptation of Geling Yan’s novel “13 Flowers of Nanjing,” centering on the Nanjing Massacre, when Japanese troops killed thousands of Chinese citizens in what was then the nation’s capital in 1937.
Bale plays John Haufman, an American trapped amidst the chaos of battle and the ensuing occupation takes shelter, joined by a group of innocent schoolgirls and thirteen courtesans, equally determined to escape the horrors taking place outside the church walls.
The Flowers of War does not yet have a domestic distributor, but it will be hitting theaters in China this December and I can only assume, if it lands an Oscar nomination we’ll hear about it being picked up soon enough.
Check out the international trailer below and for more information, as well as a couple of images, click here.
