The Children of Huang Shi

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...

Movie too short
At two hours in length, this beautifully photographed biographical film is still not long enough to flesh out the underlying story we are encouraged to imagine. The movie makes a good companion piece to The Last Emperor, as a record of pre-WWII China. But I do not know of a movie that fills in the psychology of the starving boys orphaned and raised wild by older boys -- their dreams, their fears, their codes of honor. The civilizing work of George Hogg and his allies, and its unexpected consequences, amount to another movie within a movie. And then there is the arduous long trek through mountains and out into the high Gobi desert, which tells yet another story of courage and perseverance that could have been expanded to satisfy my curiosity about the journey. How many animals did they lose along the way? Did their provisions last? Did the vegetable seeds and rice and grain they took with them do as well in sand as in the lowland mud?

Self-Sacrifice Can Be Transformative
This film is about a little known story of the exploits of British journalist George Hogg during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.

The cast is excellent with very good performances by Michelle Yeoh, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat & Jonathan Rhys Meyers. An evocative musical score and some gorgeous cinematography of the wilds of Tibet combine to make this a treat to behold.

During the first 25 minutes or so of the story, it appears that the film will be an action thriller, but the "heart" of the story reveals the transformative power of self-sacrifice & caring in a hostile political and physical environment. It is an amazing story.

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