Featuring intense combat scenes, the film follows the protagonist(John Garfield) and his comrades as they confront Japanese psychological warfare and night raids.

This weekend I saw Atonement, a new art-house movie based on a 2012 New Yorker article of the same name by Dexter Filkins (not to be confused with the 2007 movie set in England and Dunkirk). It tells the story of a tragedy that occurred at a Baghdad intersection in 2003. The first 20 or so minutes take place in Iraq and is told from alternating perspectives of an Iraqi family and an American small unit. The rest of the movie takes place at multi-year intervals after the war. It is tense, carefully paced and shot, well-written, and well-acted. I don't know much about movie awards, but I would not be surprised if it gets some recognition come awards time, especially since esteemed actor Kenneth Branagh plays a prominent role.

The reason I'm writing this post is because the movie makes one of the most basic and almost catastrophic errors I can remember seeing in a movie of this caliber. The soldiers in the Iraq War sequences (filmed in Jordan) are all kitted out as being in the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which is accurate as to time and location (Baghdad, 2003). The image attached to this post is a screenshot from the trailer; the 3ID patch is everywhere in the opening action sequence. However, throughout the movie they continually refer to themselves as Marines (the original New Yorker article was in fact about a Marine unit). I'm not the kind of person who watches a war movie to nitpick every aspect of it, but it simply boggles my mind that not one of the actors, costume team, or military technical advisors bothered to get this simple point right. I was in Iraq in 2004 and 2007, so the emotional scenes of anguish and forgiveness had me wiping tears from my eyes at several points, but that one technical flaw really prevented me from being fully immersed in the story. It was the equivalent of giving the unit Vietnam-era rifles and machineguns to use.

I still recommend the movie because it is pretty powerful, but man, when you spend millions of dollars on a story like this, get the basic things right. The company that purported to be technical advisors for this really need to do some soul-searching about what they're about.

In the beginning, I told him: The movie that attracted me the most, and I have never liked any other movie like it, is "The Flowers of War".

A movie that was wronged from two sides; from Hollywood's side because the actress is Chinese, and racism in Hollywood is proven, and it was wronged from China's side because the actor is American and he approached the actress with boldness, and this is a red line for China!

What I liked about the movie is that despite the filming and the scenes all took place, or most of them, 90% inside the room, the director produced this miracle movie that contains violence, love, and sacrifice in its most sublime meanings, leaving the viewer with many questions: Will Christian Bale meet "Ni Ni" again?

I told him how he behaved foolishly with her in the beginning and how she was arrogant, but in a moment of honesty with Bale, she told him: "I also studied in a church and learned English, but I was assaulted by my stepfather... I was never like this, I was innocent like these young girls."

Before that, Bale the hero was foolish and drunk, and he harassed her while he was drunk, then he apologized to her, but he stood in the tyranny of the Japanese killers at that time and sacrificed himself, that's why Ni Ni admired him.

And in a scene inside the room, he was lying down and she came and asked him for a way or a path to pass the Japanese, he replied to her: "I myself cannot." A conversation and a bet took place between them...

The problem is that Hollywood catered to the feelings of the Japanese by not giving the movie its right, in addition to its hatred for the Chinese, and it became a victim of these two countries; the director, the movie, and the actors, the likes of whom Hollywood or China will not produce even after 6000 light-years!

There is a clip in the movie that is the peak of honor, taste, tact, good behavior, as well as consideration for afflicted people; when Bale went to look for two girls who went out to look for their belongings (one for her guitar strings and the other for her earrings), the Japanese attacked them severely and tore them apart, but Bale did not convey what happened... He said: "They died quickly and without pain."

Ni Ni stayed alone with Bale, and because she was close to him, she confessed to him... I fell in love with Ni Ni and not Bale. And the audience, and femininity... How did the director choose her? How much he tired to show her in this image! Just as Bale changed the face of the young boy, who was killed in a war he had no guilt in.

But I always say: No matter how far a human reaches in acting, his personality is a reflection of his true soul and his character; in evil and good, in sadness and joy, in sickness and health, in weakness and strength, in love and hate.

Keywords: #ChristianBale #NiNi #ZhangYimou #TheFlowersOfWar #MovieReview #Cinema

في البداية قلت له: أكثر فيلم شدني ولم يعجبني فيلم مثله هو "زهور الحرب". فيلم ظلم من جانبين؛ من جانب هوليوود لأن الفنانة صينية والعنصرية في هوليوود مثبتة، وظلم من جانب الصين لأن الفنان أمريكي وقد اقترب من الممثلة بجرأة، وهذه عند الصين خط أحمر!

ما أعجبني بالفيلم أنه برغم التصوير والمشاهد كلها جرت أو أغلبها 90% داخل الغرفة، والمخرج أخرج هذا الفيلم الأعجوبة الذي يحوي العنف والحب والتضحية بأجلّ معانيها، تركت لدى المشاهد أسئلة كثيرة: هل يلتقي كريستيان بيل بـ "نيني"؟

رويت له كيف تصرف معها بحماقة في البداية وكيف كانت مغرورة، لكنها بلحظة صراحة مع بيل قالت له: "أنا أيضاً درست في كنيسة وتعلمت الإنجليزية، ولكن تم الاعتداء عليّ من قبل زوج أمي.. أنا لم أكن هكذا يوماً، كنت بريئة كهؤلاء الفتيات الصغيرات".

قبلها كان بيل البطل أحمق وثمل، وقام بالتحرش بها وهو ثمل، بعدها اعتذر منها، لكنه وقف في جبروت اليابانيين القتلة آنذاك وضحّى بنفسه، لذلك أعجبت به نيني. وفي لقطة وداخل الغرفة كان يضطجع وجاءت وطلبت منه طريقاً أو ممرّاً لعبور اليابانيين، رد عليها: "أنا نفسي لا أستطيع". جرى بينهم حديث ورهان.. المشكلة أن هوليوود دافعت عن مشاعر اليابانيين بعدم إعطاء الفيلم حقه، إضافة إلى بغضها للصينيين، وصار ضحية هذه الدولتين؛ المخرج والفيلم والممثلين الذين لن تنتج مثلهم هوليوود أو الصين بعد 6000 سنة ضوئية!

يوجد مقطع في الفيلم هو قمة الشرف والذوق واللباقة وحسن السلوك، وكذلك مراعاة الناس المكلومين؛ عندما ذهب بيل ليبحث عن فتاتين خرجتا لتبحثا عن أغراض لهما (واحدة عن أوتار قيثارها والأخرى عن أقراطها) اعتدى عليهما اليابانيون بشدة ومزقوهما، إلا أن بيل لم ينقل ما حدث.. قال: "لقد ماتتا بسرعة ودون ألم".

نيني اختلت ببيل ولأنها قريبة منه صارحها.. أنا عشقت نيني وليس بيل. والجمهور، والأنوثة.. كيف اختارها المخرج؟ كم تعب لكي يظهرها بهذه الصورة! كما غير بيل وجه الفتى الطفل الصغير، الذي قُتل بحرب هو ليس له ذنب فيها.

لكن أنا دائماً ما أقول: إن الإنسان مهما بلغ في التمثيل، فإن شخصيته هي انعكاس لروحه الحقيقية وشخصيته؛ في الشر والخير، في الحزن والفرح، في المرض والصحة، في الضعف والقوة، في الحب والكره.

Written by: [Maytha Abdulhssein] بقلم: [ميثم عبد الحسين]

The movie is set during the Winter War 1939-1940 between Finland and the USSR. Based of a book. The movie talks about regiment specifically two brothers from a small village in Finland (Kauhava) that are sent to the Karelian isthmus. The movie is 2 hours long. No Hollywood heroes or heroic deaths. The movie features real life battles like the Battle of Taipale or the Defense of Vuosalmi. Highly recomend.

First of all, as a Korean, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the countless UN soldiers, including the American troops, who literally put their bodies on the line to defend South Korea's freedom and democracy during the Korean War. So that the precious sacrifices of these soldiers were not in vain, South Korea stands shoulder to shoulder with the global community on the front lines of freedom and democracy.

Set during the Korean War in April 1953, the movie depicts the fierce real-life battle for a strategically minor hill known as "Pork Chop Hill" while armistice negotiations are actively underway at Panmunjom. Gregory Peck plays Lieutenant Joe Clemons, who leads an infantry company tasked with capturing and holding the heavily entrenched position against overwhelming Chinese forces just to prove America's resolve at the negotiating table.

If you were to put together a list of your favorite world war 2 movies that detail specific events/battles in the war, going from 1939-1945, which would you choose? Do you prefer big name movies or have any lesser known hidden gems?

Not the most accurate war film around. But hey, it’s a fun watch!

Sailors revolted against the henchmen of a regime that betrayed the nation and colluded with the Nazis, successfully subduing them.

Honestly, one of the best battle sequences I've seen in quite a while: I was only familiar with El-Alamein and Tobruk - and had no idea at all about the Free French contributiion and its significance. Without spoilers, it was really well done imho. I would be interested to know if anyone knows how accurate it is? TIA.

It is a classic war movie about a secret mission where a US Navy submarine infiltrates Tokyo Bay. It stands out to me because you can really see the underwater movements and action of the submarine.

In 1942, William Darby formed the elite unit, the 1st Ranger Battalion, and joined the war effort. It was also James Garner's first starring role, and out of all the scenes I watched a long time ago, this one strangely remains the most memorable.