SYNOPSICS
The Children of Huang Shi (2008) is a English,Japanese,Mandarin movie. Roger Spottiswoode has directed this movie. Jonathan Rhys Meyers,Radha Mitchell,Chow Yun-Fat,Michelle Yeoh are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2008. The Children of Huang Shi (2008) is considered one of the best Drama,War movie in India and around the world.
People thrown into an unexpected and desperate situation discover their capacity for love and responsibility. A young Englishman, George Hogg, comes to lead sixty orphaned boys on a journey of over 500 perilous miles across the snow-bound Liu Pan Shan mountains to safety on the edge of the Mongolian desert. And how, in doing so, he comes to understand the meaning of courage. During his journey, Hogg learns to rely on the support of Chen, the leader of a Chinese communist partisan group who becomes his closest friend. He soon finds himself falling in love with Lee, a recklessly brave Australian nurse whom war has turned into an unsentimental healer on horseback. Along the way Hogg befriends Madame Wang, an aristocratic survivor who has also been displaced by war, who helps the young Englishman, his friends and their sixty war orphans make their way across mountain and desert regions to a place of safety near the western end of the Great Wall of China.
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The Children of Huang Shi (2008) Reviews
A well-intentioned movie that stays on a course of political correctness
To those who can remember that far, this movie has close kinship, or is even a non-identical twin to, "The Inn of six Happiness" where Ingrid Bergman portrayed Gladys Aylward, an English woman who escaped with 100 Chinese children from the invading Japanese. "Escape from Huang Shi" (or "The children of Huang Shi) is almost identical in many ways, the story of English reporter George Hogg who took 60 Chinese children on a "mini long March" along the Silk Road to safety before the Japaneses' onslaught hit the orphanage. There is a little more detail in this story prior to Hogg getting to the orphanage where he won the heart of the children embittered from witnessing atrocities unspeakable done to their loved ones. But the relationship between Hogg and these children is the heart of the story. Most remarkable is what we see during the end credit roll, where some of these children (now well advanced in age) recounting how they remember him the most touching part of the movie. This is not to say that the dramatization in the movie is not well done. Here, the credit goes first and foremost to the cast. Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Radha Mitchell are two of the most notable actors today not because of their looks (which they certainly have) but because they are good character actors. Meyers is great in his portrayal of Hogg as a mild-tempered young man from a sworn Pacifist family finding himself challenged by the emotion of hate triggered by some of the things he witnessed. Mitchell is wonderful as nurse Lee Pearson who seems at first hardened and drained of any emotions after all the atrocities she has seen, but later found to have a weak spot of her own. Chow Yun-fat plays "Jack" Chen, a seasoned military man who saves Hogg from decapitation under a Japanese sword and goes on to help him all along the way. This character is portrayed with a dry sense of humour uncharacteristic of the Chinese people at the time. This is a good approach as it balances somewhat the story that is essentially heavily tragic. Chow handles the role with customary ease, making his character very likable. Michelle Yeoh plays Mrs Wang, a successful, pragmatic merchant who, although taking pains to hide it, also has a caring heart. Yeoh has everything it takes to bring out the dignity and charm that prompted Hogg to refer to her as "a great lady" when he said goodbye upon taking on the "march". This Australia/China/Germany collaboration steers a careful course of political correctness in the sensitive issue of the delicate relationship between the Chinese Nationalist and Communists during the Japanese invasion. The depiction of Japanese atrocities of course need not be spared unless one wants to falsify history, but even here, there is only very brief mention of historical details. The main focus of this movie is a human story well worth telling, as the interviews of the actual survivors shown with the end credits clearly underscore.
Wait for the Credits
In 1937, the British reporter George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) travels to Shanghai expecting to cover the Japanese invasion of Nanking. However, the British consul does not give a visa to him since the Japanese authorities do not want journalists in the capital. George deals with a Red Cross driver that wants to get married and he assumes his identity to travel to Nanking with two other journalists in his truck. George witness and photographs an execution of dwellers by the Japanese soldiers but he is captured. When the soldier is ready to behead George with a sword, he is saved by the communist Chinese soldier Chen Hansheng, a.k.a. Jack (Yun-Fat Chow). George is wounded by a shot and Jack brings him to the Red Cross camping where the nurse Lee Pearson (Radha Mitchell) heals him. Jack sends George to an orphanage and he becomes responsible for sixty orphans. George improves their lives and every now and then he sees Jack, who has become his friend, and Lee, for whom he has fallen in love. With the Japanese occupation and the civil war between nationalists and communists, George decides to travel of about 800 km to a distant but safe land through the mountains and desert with the orphans. "The Children of Huang Shi" is a movie based on a true story about the life of a British journalist that saved sixty orphans during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937. The movie has magnificent cinematography and art direction, and a great cast, with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Yun-Fat Chow and Michelle Yeoh. However, the narrative is cold and without emotions, and the only touching moment is in the credits, with the testimony of survivors that will certainly touch the heart of the viewer. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Órfãos da Guerra" ("Orphans of the War")
Heke is a hero
I watched this movie last Saturday, and here are some feelings of mine. "The children of Huangshi" brought me an vivid image of the reality during the pre-WWⅡ. George Hogg, also known as Heke was a courageous, insistent and responsible man. He treated the homeless orphans as ordinary innocent children while the Japanese enemy and the nationalists never showed any mercy to them. Children were victims of the wars. They lost their families, their childhood, and even their courage to live. Wars also raised the hatred in their mind, changing them into devils. In the movie, two echo scenes impressed me a lot： One is the photo of Shikai' family, the other is a photo of a Japanese soldier. Shikai saw his parents and his sister be killed atrociously by Japanese and since then he became dissociable and unreasonable and the only hope to him was the photo. When he got the chance to kill Japanese, he did it decidedly, only to find that a family photo holding in the soldier's hands. Heke tried to release the children's hatred and he wanted them to be normal children. At some aspect, he succeeded, because the children of Huangshi, e.g. Laosi, found his way back to be a happy child under Heke's education; however, the damage of the war was too huge to be cured. Most of the children were saved but not what they were used to be any more. Anyway, Heke is a great man. Although he is a foreigner, he is our national hero forever.
A Nearly Impossible Story to Tell or Believe: True Heroism
THE CHILDREN OF HUANG SHI is a long (greater than two hours) epic tale that happens to be a true story of an extraordinary hero's life and gift to humanity during World War II. If as a film the telling of this story is a bit shaky in spots, it is probably due to the episodic series of events that happened very quickly and under existing conditions of profound stress. Yet despite the occasional misfires in production this remains a bit of history we all should know. George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is a journalist assigned to Shanghai in 1937 and with his colleagues he plans to explore the extent of the invasion of China by the Japanese. Under the guise of Red Cross workers his small band manages to enter Nanjing where now alone due to the loss of his friends to battle he observes and photographs the atrocities of mass murders of the people of Nanjing. He is captured by the Japanese, tortured when his confiscated camera reveals his terrifying photographs, and it is only by acts of fortune and the aid of a Chinese Nationalist Chen Hansheng (Chow Yun-Fat) that he escapes. Hogg probes the Chinese countryside for further evidences of the evil of the Japanese invasion, and he finds a village of children (adults are all absent) and realizes that he is in an orphanage without a leader. At first reluctant to assume the role of guardian of these impoverished and filthy frightened children, he soon accepts his responsibility and is challenged by an Australian nurse Lee Pearson (Radha Mitchell) to become not only the caretaker but also the father/teacher/provider/role model these children so desperately need. Seeing the advancing of the Japanese, Hogg decides to take his wards 700 mile away to a small village by the Gobi desert reachable only by the infamous Silk Road. It is this journey and the way both the children and Hogg are affected by the challenge that absorb the greater part of the film. Observing the transformation of George Hogg's view of the world is made credible by Jonathan Rhys Meyers' performance. The cast of children often steals the limelight, but with supporting cast members such as Chow Yun-Fat, Radha Mitchell and Michelle Yeoh as an opium merchant the story never lacks color and character. The look of the film is dark, but the message of this story is full of light. Here is a bit of Chinese history we should all know! Grady Harp
This is a top quality movie
This is a top quality movie; it is inspirational. Jonathan Rhys Meyers' acting was superb. The scenery was beautiful and the children were touching. I highly recommend this movie. Here was a true hero in every sense of the word. George Hogg risked his life to save the lives of innocent children. He also risked his life to publicize the truth. His parents were courageous pacifists. He struggled with the dilemma of when pacifism is appropriate and when fighting back is appropriate. Yun-Fat Chow and Michelle Yeoh were also outstanding in their roles. It was interesting and informative regarding a period of history and location that is not that widely known about in the West.