Based on a real life experience, Empire of the Sun is the story of a British boy who survives the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1941 and the internment of the Japanese in their labor camps during WWII (for all you historian types, I've personally been to the remains of the slave labor camps run by the Japanese where there were American graves and saw the remains of their work as slaves and played taps over them with the U.S. Navy Honor Guard - America's dealing with other races is the kinder of these types of activities in history).
James Graham, (played by Christian Bale) son of wealthy British parents in Shanghai lives a life of ease and luxury when the Japanese invade. As many boys do, James is enamoured with the machinery and bravado of war but very naive due to his wealthy roots. Separated from his parents in a series of internment camps his pragmatic nature makes the war an adventure as seen through the eyes of a boy while he befriends but tires and aggravates his Japanese captors. He makes friends with an American (John Malkovich) in the camp who teaches him how to survive the war as an internee while also using James for his own survival.
If there is a part that cracks me up though, the Japanese are sailing their battle cruisers up the river for the invasion and the city of Shanghai is in a blackout. The ships are signaling with their signal lights to the army on the shore to coordinate movements and James decides to have a bit of "fun" with a flashlight and send some dirty messages with a light via morse code to the Japanese ships when they....open fire. The hotel he is staying in and doing this from is rocked by blasts. His father comes in and James looks up from the ground at his father, knocked down by the blast near the building saying "I didn't mean it! It was only a joke!"
Excellent and captivating movie - a war seen through the eyes of a boy and as the adventure of a lifetime.
