The Flowers of War

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Zhang Yimou directs. Zhao Xiaoding behind the camera. Chen Qigang scores. Meng Peicong cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in China, Hong Kong. Dialogue in Mandarin, Japanese, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Mid-budget at $94M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
• 2Released 15 years ago.
• 3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Mandarin, Japanese, English.
• 4International production across 2 countries: China, Hong Kong.
• 5Directed by Zhang Yimou, shot by Zhao Xiaoding. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 6Original score by Chen Qigang. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 7Editor Meng Peicong shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 8Christian Bale and Ni Ni and Zhang Xinyi carry the top of the cast.
• 9Marketing tagline: "Fighting for freedom.".
• 10IMDB entry: tt1410063 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 11Classified under 11 themes, including "rape", "china", "based on novel or book", "brothel".
• 12Released under 25 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Zhao Xiaoding

Original score

Chen Qigang

Editing

Meng Peicong

Production design

Yohei Taneda

Costume design

Graciela Mazón

Makeup / hair

Yang Xiaohai

VFX supervisor

Joss Williams

Sound

Steve Burgess

Runtime

146 min · 2h 26m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$94,000,000

Box office

$95,311,434

Return

101% of budget

Original language

ZH

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

The Flowers of War (2011) ↗

Also by

Zhang Yimou

• 
  庆祝中华人民共和国成立70周年联欢活动

  2019 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Beijing 2008 Olympic Closing Ceremony

  2008 · ★ 8.6
• 
  To Live

  1994 · ★ 8.1
• 
  Puccini: Turandot at the Forbidden City of Beijing

  1999 · ★ 8.0
• 
  最忆是杭州

  2016 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Beijing 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony

  2008 · ★ 7.9

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Flowers Of War | trailer US (2012) Christian Bale

  Trailer

Production companies

Who made it

• NE

  New Picture Company

• BE

  Beijing New Picture Film Co. Ltd.

  CN

• ED

  EDKO Film

Key crew

• Costume DesignGraciela Mazón
• ProducerZhang Weiping
• Costume DesignerShandy Lui Fung-Shan
• Set DesignerBriseide Siciliano
• Sound RecordistLian Luan
• Sound Effects EditorRobert Mackenzie
• Visual Effects ProducerAurelian Vulpasu
• EditorMeng Peicong
• Conceptual DesignShinsuke Kojima
• Sound Effects EditorTian Yong
• Sound Effects EditorVincent Zhai
• Sound Re-Recording MixerSteve Burgess
• Sound Re-Recording MixerWei He
• Public RelationsDana Archer
• Dialogue EditorJames Ashton
• Dialogue EditorWang Baiyang
• Visual Effects SupervisorJoss Williams
• Production DesignYohei Taneda
• Set DesignerYingzhang Fu
• FoleyXu Miao
• Sound Effects EditorChris Goodes
• Sound Effects EditorHongrui Ji
• Sound Effects EditorYinan Tu
• Sound Re-Recording MixerRoger Savage

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• rape
• china
• based on novel or book
• brothel
• based on true story
• atrocity
• prostitution
• forced prostitution
• nanking massacre china 1937
• 1930s
• japanese occupation of china

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2012-12-18R

Also known as

International titles

• Jīnlíng shísān chāiCN
• Thirteen Girls in JinlingCN
• 13 Flowers of NanjingUS
• The Flowers of WarCN
• Nanjing HeroesCN
• I fiori della guerraIT
• Τα λουλούδια του πολέμουGR
• Sacrifices of WarFR
• The Flowers of War: Taistelu vapaudestaFI
• Sõja õiedEE
• Las flores de la guerraES
• Цветы войныRU
• Savasin ÇiçekleriTR
• Cveće rataRS
• Kwiaty wojnyPL