THE CHILDREN OF HUANG ****
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
Pretty as a picture, THE CHILDREN OF HUANG **** comes glowing to your local
cinema. With perfect period piece sets, handsome and inviting
cinematography
and pristine examples of 1930s trans****tation vehicles, the movie would
appear to have it all, especially since it's based -- I have no idea how
loosely -- on a heart-warming, true story of selfless courage.
But, with its clunky dialog and wooden acting, the film never rises above
being a gorgeous tableau.
It may be based on a true story, but with all of its
just-in-the-nick-of-time escapes and its many improbable moments, it plays
like a highly glamorized version of a true story.
Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, whose last movie of any consequence was
THE
6TH DAY, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, THE CHILDREN OF HUANG **** is the
story of a brave British re****ter named George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers,
"The Tudors").
When we meet George in 1937, he is living in the comfort of Shanghai, said
in the opening credits to be a very European-like city in pre-World War II
China. The Japanese are busy fighting an undeclared war in and around the
city of Nanjing. George, like all of the other re****ters, is eager to make
his way to the front but is prevented from doing it by the Chinese
government. In a subplot, the Chinese are shown to be bitterly divided
between the Nationalists and the Communists.
Impersonating a member of the Red Cross, George manages to make his way
into
the heart of the battle, where he is able to take photographs of the
Japanese carrying out genocide against the Chinese. In one episode, we
watch
the Japanese soldiers line up the Chinese peasants and mow them down with
a
machine gun.
But the movie is not really about any of this.
The central story concerns an orphanage, where George finds himself. He
decides to take the boys on a harrowing, six-hundred mile journey through
the snow covered mountains, in order to get them to a place so remote that
the enemy soldiers will not bother them. The school is basically an all
male
establishment, except for a fetching nurse, Lee Pearson (Radha Mitchell,
Melinda in MELINDA AND MELINDA), whose place in the narrative appears to
be
to supply a small love interest.
In a typical example of the triteness of the film's dialog, Lee asks
George
about why he came. "Why China?" she asks him with a pensive seriousness.
"Because they are in trouble," he replies quickly, without the need for
any
reflection. No, he's not a mere re****ter hot after a story, as he appeared
when we first saw him. Not at all. Coming from a family of committed and
doctrinaire pacifists, George explains to Lee that he is not at all like
his
parents, and he is ready to take up weapons and fight his newly found
enemies.
Of the many unrealistic scenes, which are needlessly staged solely for the
purpose of pulling at our heart-strings, one example occurs before George
leads his minions on their arduous journey. He is seen teaching the
orphans
English at night. With resources extremely tight, he burns up precious
fuel
to generate electricity in order to light the classroom so the lessons can
be held. Of course, the kids could just as easily have been taught during
the daylight hours.
The movie, with all its shortcomings, is at least lovely to look at and
tells a wonderful story, albeit badly.
THE CHILDREN OF HUANG **** runs 1:54. The film is in English and in
Mandarin
and Japanese with English subtitles. It is rated R for "some disturbing
and
violent content" and would be acceptable for teenagers.
The film in limited release in the United States on Friday, May 30, 2008.
In
the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.
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