Empire of the Sun is a film that takes place in China during the early days of World War II. Told through the point of view of an eleven year old British boy named Jamie, it is not only a story about the loss of innocence, but a story about the privilege, classism, and racism that existed during this period. Steven Spielberg, the director of Empire of the Sun, uses symbols such as clocks, colors and planes to convey these messages throughout the film, ultimately creating a beautiful but chaotic and at times confusing experience for the audience. Though I enjoyed this film and was at times enthralled in the characters' lives and pleasing cinematography I think Spielberg tries to accomplish too much in only two hours and thirty minutes and could rely less on imagery. Over time the core theme of this film, being the loss of innocence, becomes muddled and the most noteworthy part of Empire of the sun is it’s dazzling scenes, not it’s message.
The film starts by introducing audiences to the main character Jamie, played by Christian Bale: a privileged schoolboy living in the Shanghai International Settlement with his wealthy parents. Jamie lives in a western bubble, free of the fear and starvation that plagued many people in China at the time. The first half of the film is riddled with classism, whether subtle or overt. One instance of classism can be seen when Jamie manipulates his Chinese maid into giving him a sugary snack before bedtime, telling her “You have to do what I say” and using what knowledge he has of his family's power to strip her of her own. Another instance of Classism and privilege can be seen when Jamie’s family decides to drive in their limo to a costume party, passing by impoverished children, elderly and desperate men and women, all while in the protection of their transportation, unwilling to offer a helping hand or brave the rough streets of Shanghai. The lack of empathy shown by Jamie and his family is especially evident in this scene and an earlier one in which Jamie, his mother, and his father drive by a homeless man, banging on a tin in the hopes that someone will pull over and offer him a meal, completely unphased and disinterested in someone who is just barely able to survive .
Apart from learning about Jamie's privilege in the first half of this film, viewers also learn about his interests. Jamie lives mostly in his imagination, as many children his age do, devoid of any anxiety or terror about the realities of the war. Jamie has a fascination with planes, and within the first ten minutes of this movie can be seen riding around on a bike holding a toy plane that's been lit on fire. Because of his family's belief that they are separate from the war based on their wealth and ethnicity, and because of Jamie’s naivete, planes are only a passion of his and war is only a game to him. His parents make no effort to teach him otherwise.
The film, along with Jamie's cushy life, take a turn, however, when Japanese soldiers begin occupying the settlement he’s living in and his privilege can’t protect him any longer. In a scene that can only be described as a child's worst nightmare, Jamie is separated from his parents and flung into the chaos of the streets of Shanghai. There, he is forced to face the people he once treated as invisible. Believing that his parents have gone back home, Jamie escapes the streets and runs to his family's mansion in an attempt to reunite with them. Wearing his red schoolboy uniform Jamie sticks out in a crowd of people dressed in blues and muted colors. It’s quite apparent that he does not fit into this environment.
Once home, he is met by a sign on his door stating that his family's mansion is now the property of “his Imperial majesty the Japanese Emperor.” Furthermore he finds that the maid he once treated so poorly is stealing his family's possessions. Still not grasping the situation he’s been placed in, Jamie orders her to stop what she’s doing immediately. However, rather than being met with submission as he expected, he is met with defiance, and a slap that both shocks Jamie and further strips him of his power. From this point on his privilege runs out. This is made even more obvious to the viewer in a rather calculated scene soon after Jamie's maid leaves with his family's belongings, in which he watches as a clock stops ticking, a metaphor for the end of his once lavish and carefree lifestyle.
Now living a new life stricken by hunger, fear, and confusion Jamie meets a couple of shady characters, one of which stays with him throughout the majority of the film.
This character goes by the name Basie, and while Jamie's untrained eye sees him as a friend, he’s more or less a swindler who surrounds himself with people he’ll later use for his own personal gain. After meeting Basie, Jamie gets a new name, Jim, symbolizing that like his name, he too will change with his environment. As the story progresses, “Jim” and Basie both end up in an internment camp packed with British and American prisoners, all of whom are either starving or sick. These prisoners must bang on their bowls for food, a parallel to the destitute man Jamie's family drove by earlier in the film. From here on, Jim must learn how to survive on his own and begins to steal and trade to earn Basie’s respect.
When he first wakes up in the internment camp, he is still clad in his red school uniform, yet as the film goes on, Jim begins to wear the same muted colors as the rest of the camp’s prisoners thus leaving behind the life of innocence and privilege he once lived and identifying more with the life he is living now.
We see the colors he wears completely change at a pivotal moment in this film in which Jim escapes a japanese soldier guarding the camps by hiding in a drainage canal. During this scene audiences see that his face and body are completely caked in grey mud.
After successfully concealing himself from the soldier and narrowly escaping from death, Jim comes back a different person in the eyes of his prison mates, including Basie, and earns the respect he so greatly desired all while covered in the same grey mud. His prison mates cheer and clap for him on his return and he is offered a place to sleep near a group of men he looks up to. Jim is so happy to finally be accepted that later that night he goes to bed still covered in mud with a childish grin on his face. While the audience watches as Jim is accepted by the men he looks up to most, they also see him become completely erased by the grey mud and clothes he wears, a symbol of him finally assimilating to and understanding his environment and what he must do to survive in it. Spielberg ingeniously uses colors to show Jim’s character development.
While Jim separates himself more and more from his past life, something else begins to happen as well. He starts to search for a parental figure. While earlier on in the movie Jamie was surrounded by an abundance of love, Jim, the role he must take on in this rougher environment, has to work to find it. Throughout the film Jim meets adults who substitute as parental figures for him: Dr. Rawlins, Mrs. Victor, and even Basie. However each one of these people let him down in some way or another, either by using him or distancing themselves from him, and Jim's lack of love and affection only makes his hunger for it grow stronger.
The only unconditional and burdenless bond Jim ever forms in Empire of the Sun is with a Japanese boy not much older than himself training to be a soldier just outside of his camp. Though they are on opposite sides of the war, they bond over a shared love of planes and their childish naivete.
Unfortunately, even this relationship comes to an end when Jim’s friend is killed by one of Basie’s cronies near the conclusion of the film. The boy's death leads to one of the most devastating scenes of the movie. In this scene, Jim begins to give his already long gone friend CPR in an attempt to revive him, only to begin imagining he is trying unsuccessfully to revive his younger self, Jamie, from his previous life. This scene ends with Jim and the audience realizing that he can’t return to the life he once lived.
This brings us to the final chapter of this film where Jim is freed from the internment camp and reunited with his parents. Without explanation, this may appear to be a sappy and almost too good to be true ending, but on closer examination it’s far from it. Instead, this last chapter answers an important question that can not go ignored; will our main character return to his family as Jamie or Jim? Once reunited with his parents, it’s apparent what the answer will be.
Rather than embracing his mother and father and living happily ever after, Jim looks as though he hardly recognizes them, and the pain and suffering behind his eyes is visible and incontestable.
Empire of the Sun is a story about a child coming to terms with a brutal world after growing up in an elite environment created by his parents. Based on a book by J.G Ballard and directed by Steven Spielberg, it is, at its core, a movie about growing up and maturing during war and has underlying themes of classicism and privilege. While Christian Bale is brilliant in this film, and the cinematography is magical and at times clever, The theme of this movie isn’t always clear, and this film could benefit from including less magical cinematography and more substance. An example of this is in one of Spielberg's most famous scenes where Jim stumbles across a Japanese zero, a crowning moment for him, and touches it. At this very moment someone begins welding, causing sparks to simultaneously shoot in every direction showering Jim's surroundings, and creating fireworks to punctuate the moment. Though this scene is undeniably beautiful and magical, it’s imagery overpowers it’s theme, being Jim’s passion for planes and his childhood dream of finally seeing one in real life being lived out, and places aesthetics before deeper meaning. Jim’s continuing fascination with planes is proof that he doesn’t fully understand how dangerous they are and their purpose being the decimation of other human beings. This crucial analysis of Jim however is overshadowed. In my opinion, Schindler’s List, another truly great film directed by Spielberg, was much more effective at communicating a clear theme or idea than Empire of the Sun. I believe that this was due to it’s black and white cinematography, which stopped Spielberg from overwhelming his scenes with bright and fantastical imagery. Although it’s not perfect, Empire of the Sun is still an incredible movie and worth watching at least once. I still loved this film and appreciated the thought and talent that was put into it. I urge you to go watch this film if you haven’t already and decide for yourself if it’s better or worse than I described it.
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