"It was at the moment when the maurading Japanese soldiers broke into a cathedral, tried to rape a bunch of innocent Chinese schoolgirls, and a lone Chinese rifleman across the way managed to get off a few shots directly through the church’s stained-glass windows, and into the neck of the Japanese attackers, that it became clear to me that director Zhang Yimou’s new epic about the 1937 Nanking massacre “The Flowers of War” is, well, frankly, propagandistic and, yes, anti-Japanese. Actor Christian Bale, who stars in the film as an American who comes to the aid of several trapped Chinese girls and courtesans, has recently defended the film, telling the BBC, “It’s far more a movie about human beings and the nature of human beings’ responses to crisis.” He added that the film discusses how a crisis “can reduce people to the most animalistic behaviour but also raise them up to the most honourable behaviour you could ever witness.”"

"Even the Times report highlights the fact that “the Japanese soldiers are presented as one-dimensional savages”, noting the sequence in which one gleefully shouts “We’ve got virgins” after finding the schoolgirlsl. In its lush, artful presentation of violence, the film also seems to relish in such bloody acts, whether as a way to marytr and sympthathize with the fallen Chinese or take joy in seeing the few Japanese get their due."

"The movie reportedly cost $100 million to make. Some critics charge that the film is an expensive attempt on the part of the Chinese government to soften its image, but Bale is confident that Zhang wouldn't be interested in propaganda efforts."

"Bale describes his character as a mechanically inclined jack-of-all-trades from the U.S., an escapee of the Dust Bowl who ends up working on cargo ships. "He's kind of a character who is accustomed to raucous and chaotic people around him. That's what he likes, that's where he finds his comfort," he says. "He's definitely pursuing excess with a vengeance — as a means, we find out later, to deal with pain.""

"...a new dawn in China-Hollywood co-operation...this ambitious war film from Zhang Yimou is an attempt to turn the revolting aftermath of the 1937 Japanese assault on Nanjing into a globally friendly, putatively inspiring epic that also aims to underscore the US and China's geopolitical mutual respect.""

"As for Bale himself, he is enthusiastic enough in his role, alternating loucheness with dewy-eyed emoting, though there's an unavoidable feeling he's in a different movie to the rest of the cast. Bale specialises in a sort of coiled-spring ferocity, which is never far away from the surface, and doesn't always sit comfortably with the more balletic, formalised performances of the Chinese and Japanese actors. Be that as it may, Zhang pulls out lots of directorial stops: there are a number of bravura combat sequences (notably one in which a single Chinese soldier takes out an entire Japanese platoon), a gruesome scene outlining the (documented) nature of the Japanese sexual assaults on civilians, and tremendous handheld cinematography reflecting the girls' panic when the troops storm in. However, despite the energy and care with which each scene is set up, Zhang never quite manages to overcome the penned-in sense of the drama: despite occasional forays outside, most of the action remains churchbound. This wouldn't be a problem in itself – it just seems a little self-defeating in a war epic; the constant scurrying around and squabbling among the women characters doesn't help either, tending to distract from the larger picture. Be that as it may, the Nanjing massacre is still a running sore in China's 20th century history, and Zhang is brave to take it on. It's fair to say that something has been sacrificed in translation, the ponderous romance he offers to appeal to an international audience doesn't really do the historical record full justice. But in terms of focusing the world's attention on China's cinematic muscle, he does admirably."

"That Bale, 37, would be working in a country where he didn't know the language, the sole foreigner on the set in a culture that didn't believe in coddling the crew with days off — there are no union protections there — wasn't going to dissuade him. He is a guy, after all, who dropped one third of his body weight for his role in 2004's "The Machinist.""

"Part of the reason he accepted the gig, though, was to shine a spotlight on an ugly period in history. "You have to let it in, but then you have to breathe it out again," he said, exhaling loudly. "So it doesn't destroy you." It was a much different experience than the three-week whirlwind he experienced in the country as a 13-year-old filming Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun." Now there he was, the veteran in an inexperienced cast of real Nanjing students that legendary director Zhang Yimou had recruited."

"The Flowers of War is a big movie in every sense of the word, from its kinetic battle scenes to the beautiful photography and impressive performances from a mostly young and inexperienced cast.""

"...a work of often garish dramatic flourishes yet undeniable emotional power, finding humor and heartbreak in a tale of unlikely heroism in close quarters."

"What I wanted to stress in this story is the young girls, the virgins are the most final conquest of the conquerors, especially for the Japanese - you cannot call it a complete conquest unless you can conquer the enemy country's women. So the young girls coming of age are the most vulnerable and most desirable of the conquest... by protecting them I wanted to make the story more tragic and more beautiful."

"No matter what wars or disasters happen in history, what surrounds these times is life, love, salvation and humanity. I hope those things are felt in this story. The human side of the story was more important to me than the background of the Nanjing massacre. Human nature, love and sacrifice – these are the things that are truly eternal. For me, the event is the historical background of the film. But the enduring question of the story is how the human spirit is expressed in wartime.[24]"

"CS: You’ve previously done historic war movies but you’ve brought artistic and cinematic beauty into those environments, which is not that common, but here you have World War II and a very difficult time in China’s history, so how were you still able to instill beauty into this situation?"

"CS: Probably the hardest part about making this movie has to be the handling of the Japanese soldiers. Your previous films have had a huge audience in Japan, including “Curse of the Golden Flower,” so how do you handle the Japanese soldiers in a way that doesn’t alienate your Japanese audience."

"Zhang said he was moved to cast Bale on the recommendation of Steven Spielberg. Bale starred in Spielberg's 1987 hit "Empire of the Sun," playing a young boy struggling to survive in Japanese-occupied China during World War II. (Bale, for his part, said he was "completely oblivious" to the connection between the two films when he committed to "Flowers." "It's a different lifetime for me," Bale said of "Empire of the Sun." "I barely remember that experience.") Zhang had seen only Bale's two Batman films and said he initially had doubts, from those viewings, about Bale's ability to play the Miller character. But when he arrived for a meeting at Bale's house and found books about the rape of Nanjing on his coffee table, he was convinced. "It showed he was serious about this, more serious than anyone else I talked to," Zhang said."

"It’s already been reported that Zhang’s latest movie is the most expensive film in Chinese history, and while it includes much of the cinematic artistry that’s made the filmmaker famous throughout the world, it also has some of the sensibilities of Western war movies and wartime romance dramas. It’s also the most English we’ve seen in any films from Zhang, roughly 50%, which didn’t prevent it from becoming his 7th film put forward by China for Oscar consideration."

"I've seen naked women before. A, I have cable TV. B, I just happen to be quite a lady's man."

"Yao Er Ga as Shong"

"Zhou Jian Zhong as Po"

"Isabella Hofmann as Beth Tyler"

"Lan Yu as Mr. Xu, the inspector"

"Wang Fei as Chu"

"Yi Ding as Ling"

"Brian Wagner as Johnny"

"Ryan Slater as Ryan Tyler"

"Stephen Lang as Dr. Michael Tyler"

"Relax, I'm an American. My life revolves around electronics. I think I can handle it."

"Michelle Yeoh - Yu Shu Lien"

"Li Kai - Gou Jun Pei"

"Hai Yan - Madam Yu"

"Gao Xi'an - Bo"

"Li Fazeng - Governor Yu"

"Sihung Lung - Sir Te"

"Cheng Pei-pei - Jade Fox"

"Chang Chen - Lo "Dark Cloud" / Luo Xiaohu"

"Zhang Ziyi - Jen Yu (English dubbed version) / Jiao Long (Mandarin version)"

"Chow Yun-Fat - Master Li Mu Bai"

"[To Wang Jinchun, who is solely frightened in the final battle] If you are afraid, Shout! It works and fights off the fear!"

"Wow, that sucks for you. [The American tank crew, after seeing Zhao stepping on the landmine]"

"If you didn't hear the bugle call, even if you are the last man left. You must keep fighting. [Liu to Gu Zidi]"

"[Enraged of the truth about their defeat] You were afraid of being bitten to death!? What about us!? our Ninth Company?"

"[Taking the landmine for Zhao] The Bugle call rings in my ears, it never stops playing. All my men heard it, but I didn't, I might as well be dead, so I can see my 47 brothers again."

"He stepped on a landmine-simida! [made-to-believe Korean phrase, which is really Mandarin, in order to trick the American tank crew]"

"We don't know [Korean], but the Americans don't goddamned know, either."

"[Persuading GMT forces to surrender] Brothers of the Chiang Army's 168 Division, greetings from the Captain of the Central Plain army's Independent 2nd division's 139th regiment's 3rd battalion for the whole 9th company. You have been surrounded, fighting on like this will do no good to either side, we have two treats for you. One is bullets, one is dumplings. We will keep them coming if you want fo fight on, and when you had enough, come and trade your rifles for a pair of chopsticks, the 9th company will sit down with the brothers, we can all eat dumplings!"

"Your Majesty, I have now completed my mission. Because of my decision today, many will die, and Your Majesty will go on living. A dead man begs you to remember; a warrior's ultimate act is to lay down his sword."

"The nameless warrior was executed as an assassin, but buried as a hero. The King of Qin went on to conquer all of the six Kingdoms and unite the country. As China's first Emperor, he completed the Great Wall to protect his subjects. This was more than two thousand years ago. But even now, when the Chinese speak of their country, they call it "Our Land"."

"People give up their lives for many reasons. For friendship, for love, for an ideal. And people kill for the same reasons …Before China was one great country, it was divided into seven warring states. In the Kingdom of Qin was a ruthless ruler. He had a vision – to unite the land, to put an end, once and for all, to war. It was an idea soaked in the blood of his enemies.In any war there are heroes on both sides …"

"Is the sword the only answer?"

"Broken Sword scroll contains no secrets of swordsmanship. What it reveals is his highest ideal. In the first stage, man and sword become interchangeable. Here, even a blade of grass can be used as a lethal weapon. In the next stage, the sword resides not in the hand, but in the heart. Even without a weapon, the warrior can slay his enemy from a hundred paces. But the ultimate ideal is when the sword disappears altogether. The warrior embraces all around him. The desire to kill is gone. Only peace remains."