|
''Empire of the Sun'' is a 1987 American coming of age war film based on J. G. Ballard's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. Steven Spielberg directed the film, which stars Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, and Nigel Havers. The film tells the story of Jamie "Jim" Graham, a young boy who goes from living in a wealthy British family in Shanghai, to becoming a prisoner of war in a Japanese internment camp, during World War II. Harold Becker and David Lean were originally to direct before Spielberg came on board, initially as a producer for Lean.〔McBride 1997, p. 391.〕 Spielberg was attracted to directing the film because of a personal connection to Lean's films and World War II topics. He considers it to be his most profound work on "the loss of innocence".〔Forsberg, Myra. ("Spielberg at 40: The Man and the Child" ). ''The New York Times'', October 1, 2008. Retrieved: September 17, 2008.〕 The film received critical acclaim but was not initially a box office success, earning only $22,238,696 at the US box office, but it eventually more than recouped its budget through revenues in other markets.〔 ==Plot== Japan had been at war with China since 1937 before declaring war on the United States and the United Kingdom. Amidst the war, Jamie Graham, a British upper middle class schoolboy fascinated with Japanese planes and pilots, is enjoying a privileged and spoiled life in the Shanghai International Settlement. At a costume party he attends with his parents, he wanders off and encounters a Japanese airplane that had been shot down. Nearby he finds a camp full of Japanese troops in a trench and is taken aback. Jamie's father finds him and forces him to leave, Jamie not realizing the impending danger. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Japanese begin to occupy the Shanghai International Settlement and in the ensuing chaos to escape the city and catch the next ferry out of Shanghai, Jamie is separated from his parents in the crowds of panicking people. Over the crowds of people Jamie's mother shouts at him to wait for them back at their house and promises that they will come back for him. He spends some time living in his deserted house, occupying his time by waiting and eating remnants of food but eventually he ventures out into the city and finds it bustling with Japanese troops. Hungry, he desperately tries to surrender to the Japanese troops who shrug and laugh him off. After being chased by a street kid, and almost hit by a truck, he is taken in by Basie (an American expatriate and somewhat of a con-man) and his companion, Frank, who nicknames him "Jim". They intend to leave the boy in the streets when they are unable to sell his teeth for cash, but Jamie promises that he knows where there are houses filled with opulent things they can sell and leads them to his neighborhood and home. Jamie's house is lit and a wispy figure can be seen through the windows as one of Jamie's mother's favorite pieces of music is heard being played on a piano inside the house. Jamie runs to the house calling for his mother and the door flies open as Japanese soldiers, who had been occupying the house as a rest area, come pouring out the front door. Basie and Frank try to escape in their ramshackle truck but are captured by the Japanese troops and severely beaten. Jamie along with Basie are taken to Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center in Shanghai. At the center, life hangs in the balance and Basie teaches Jim how to survive by any means possible as Jim nurses Basie back to health. Later, a truck arrives to take selected internees to the Soochow Creek Internment Camp. Basie is among those selected to go but Jamie is not. Because he knows of the camp's location, Jamie convinces them to take him by providing directions to the driver with whom he is in constant disagreement about which way to go. On arrival at the camp Jim is drawn to the sounds of men working and finds himself wandering amongst men servicing a squadron of Zero fighters. As Jim reaches out to touch the gleaming metal of one of the planes, he is confronted by a trio of fighter pilots. Jim, out of respect, salutes the pilots, and they, in return, stand at attention and salute Jim. It is now early 1945, a few months before the end of the Pacific War, Jim has established a good living, despite the poor conditions of the camp. He has an extensive trading network, even involving the camp's commanding officer, Sergeant Nagata. Dr. Rawlins, the camp's British doctor, becomes a father figure and teacher to Jim. Life at the camp is a mixture of terror, disease, and tight living conditions. One night after a B-29 raid and the crashing of a plane near the camp Nagata orders the destruction of the prisoners' infirmary as a reprisal. When Dr. Rawlins, attempts to prevent the destruction he is beaten by Nagata who only stops when Jim, now fluent in Japanese, begs forgiveness. Through the barbed wire fencing, Jim befriends a Japanese teenager, who is a trainee pilot. Still friends with Basie, Jim frequently visits him in the American prisoners' barracks. Jim idolizes the Americans, for not only being pilots, but also for just being American. At one point, Basie charges him to set snare traps outside the wire of the camp; while Jim succeeds, thanks to the help of his Japanese teenage friend, the real reason for sending Jim into the marsh was actually to test the area for land mines. As a reward, Basie allows Jim to move into the American barracks with him. Basie then plots to escape. During a surprise inspection of the American barracks Nagata discovers a bar of soap, from Nagata's personal supplies, that Jim had stolen as a gift for Basie. Nagata severely beats Basie and while he is in the infirmary, his possessions are stolen by other men in the barracks. One morning at dawn, Jim witnesses a kamikaze ritual of three Japanese pilots at the air base. Overcome with emotion at the solemnity of the ceremony, he begins to sing the Welsh song "Suo Gân". As the Zeros begin to take off the base comes under attack by a group of American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft. Jim is overwhelmed and climbs the ruins of a nearby pagoda to better watch the airstrike. Dr. Rawlins chases Jim up the pagoda to get him out of harm's way, but Jim refuses to leave, too excited by the planes flying by. Jim finally breaks down in a pool of emotions and confesses to Dr. Rawlins that he cannot remember what his mother looks like. As a result of the attack the Japanese decide to evacuate the camp. During the confusion, Basie escapes, leaving Jim behind, although he had promised to take Jim with him. The camp's prisoners march through the wilderness where many die of fatigue, starvation, and disease. During the march, Jim witnesses flashes from the atomic bombing of Nagasaki hundreds of miles away, and later hears news of Japan's surrender and the end of the war. Jim sneaks away from the group at a football stadium near Nantao, filled with items confiscated by the Japanese, and goes back to Soochow Creek, nearly dead from starvation. He encounters the Japanese teenager he knew earlier, who has since become a pilot but whose plane would not start and now lives in shame that he could not fulfill his obligations to the Empire as a kamikaze. The youth remembers Jim and offers him a mango, and will cut it for him with his katana. As the teenager draws back his blade over Jim holding the mango, Basie reappears with a group of armed Americans, who have arrived to loot the Red Cross containers. One of the Americans, thinking Jim is in danger, shoots and kills the Japanese youth. Jim, furious, beats the American who shot his friend. Basie drags him off and promises to take him back to Shanghai to find his parents, but Jim refuses the offer and stays behind. He is found by American soldiers and put in an orphanage in Shanghai with other children who had lost their parents. When his parents come looking for him, Jim is so rugged and scarred from his experiences that his parents do not initially see him but his mother soon recognizes him as only a mother could. The film ends with Jim hugging his mother inside the orphanage. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Empire of the Sun (film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|