Movies - Empire of the Sun

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	Movies - Empire of the Sun

Empire of the Sun is a 1984 novel by J. G. Ballard. Though it is essentially fiction, it draws extensively on Ballard's experiences in World War II, recounting the story of a young English boy, Jim Graham, who is living with his parents in Shanghai just before its capture by the Japanese. Ballard later wrote a sequel to the book, called The Kindness of Women.

Film adaptation

The book was adapted for the big screen by Tom Stoppard and Menno Meyjes in 1987. Their screenplay was filmed by Steven Spielberg, to critical acclaim, being nominated for six Oscars and winning three British Academy Awards (for Cinematography, Music and Sound). It starred a 13-year-old Christian Bale, John Malkovich, and Miranda Richardson.

Bale received a special citation for Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor from the National Board of Review — an award specially created for his performance in Empire of the Sun.

Bale's Welsh heritage reportedly inspired the director to use the Welsh song "Suo Gan," sung by James Rainbird and the Richard Williams Singers, as part of the music in the film.

Plot synopsis

Invasion

In Shanghai, China, 1941, on the eve of the Japanese invasion of the city, a young boy, Jim “Jamie” Graham, lives a privileged life. His father is a rich British businessman who owns a large house on the outskirts of Shanghai. Jamie attends an exclusive prep school where he sings lead in the choir and is generally sheltered from the Chinese culture and people that surround him daily. Jamie is also particularly rude to the servants his father employs in their house.

Jamie, his mother and his father all attend a Christmas costume ball at the estate of friends. While playing with a toy glider, Jamie encounters a unit of Japanese soldiers near the estate. Jamie comments that the soldiers all appear to be “waiting for something to happen.” The “something” they await is the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The invasion of Shanghai occurs within a few days of the party, while Jamie’s father has his family housed in a downtown hotel. The evacuation of the city begins instantly. Forced from their limousine, the Graham family finds themselves crushed in amongst the crowds fleeing the Japanese Army. Jamie and his mother are forcibly separated from his father and within moments Jamie and his mother are forced apart by the crowds. His mother yells for him to run home.

Separated

Jamie walks home and finds his house deserted. He also discovers signs of a struggle in his mother’s room. Jamie also finds two of his parent’s servants taking furniture from the house. Asking what they are doing, he is astonished when one of them does not answer but instead slaps him with impunity.

Jamie lives in the house for an undetermined length of time, waiting his parent’s return. After what must be several months (indicated by the dropping level of water in the swimming pool) he ventures into Shanghai to find it entirely controlled by the Japanese. Wishing to surrender to a group of soldiers for some food, he is laughed at. He is chased through the city’s back alleys by a orphaned Chinese boy trying to loot him for his clothes. As he tries to escape, he is nearly run over by a truck driven by an American, Frank. Frank takes Jamie to his partner, Basie, a self-centered American hiding out in an abandoned freighter in the harbor. He deftly steals several of Jamie’s personal belongings and assumes that the boy’s parents were captured with the other British who were unable to flee Shanghai. Basie gives Jamie a new nickname, “Jim.”

Captured

Basie and Frank try to rid themselves of Jim, seemingly by selling him off to those who would use him for manual labor. When Basie and Frank are about to abandon Jim to the streets, Jim tells them that he’ll show them houses in his former neighborhood with the promise of “rich pickings.” They travel to Jim’s old house and are captured by the Japanese who are now living there. The trio are placed in a temporary detention center where living conditions are horrible. Food is scarce, the dead are rarely removed, and stealing is the only way to survive. After a few days a selection takes place; those who are chosen will be sent to a prisoner-of-war camp outside Shanghai. Basie is selected but Jim is not. Jim pleads with Basie to take him along but Basie ignores him. Jim’s tenacity pays off; he is able to convince the Japanese sergeant and the truck driver that he knows where the location of the camp is. He is allowed to guide the driver to Soochow.

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