Originally posted by thestonesfan
I've never seen Empire of the Sun. What's it all about?
The experiences of a young British boy in China in World War 2. He is separated from his parents when the Japanese attack, and after various sometimes harrowing misadventures, is interred in a prison camp, where he learns to survive.
He grows up through the pivotal years of 11-15 (or thereabouts) in the course of the film and the war, and this change shows, He still keeps qualities of childlike wonder and innocence, such as a memorable sequence involving a Japanese Zero framed by the sunset, and a raid by USAAF bombers and P-51 Mustangs.
The Japanese move the interred Europeans and Americans out of the camp, and march them inland. Jim (for such is the name of the boy, changing from a youthful Jamies) 'escapes' by playing dead, and sees the second atomic bomb being dropped on Nagasaki from across the sea.
After the war, he is reunited with his parents.
Terrific performances, amazing score and soundtrack, and the first major Hollywood film to be filmed inside Red China (to that point). I have barely scratched the surface here of what is a lyrical, moving, powerful and truly fulfilling cinematic experience that runs the whole gamut of emotion.
Of course, you must consider who this is coming from, but all the same, consider.
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Even that Sci-fi mini-series last year was better than that movie. They both pale in comparision to the book of course. 
