'The Children of Huang Shi': Historical epic tells of hope in war-torn China
Historical epic tells of finding hope in war-torn China
The most amazing thing about “The Children of Huang Shi,” a visually gorgeous epic about an inspiring odyssey, is that it’s based on fact.
Stay for the closing credits. When the story seems to end, several uplifting final interviews demonstrate that this tiny slice of far-away and almost-forgotten history continues to reverberate.
THE CHILDREN OF HUANG SHI
Three stars
STARRING: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Chow Yun-Fat, Radha Mitchell and Michelle Yeoh
DIRECTOR: Roger Spottiswoode
RUNNING TIME: 125 minutes
RATING: R for violence, disturbing images.
THE LOWDOWN: A British journalist unwillingly takes charge of 60 boys in an abandoned Chinese orphanage, then must lead them on a mountainous trek to escape the invading Japanese Army.
The movie starts in 1937 as George Hogg, a young British adventurer, visits Shanghai after the Japanese invasion. Hogg, played with grit by the pellucid-eyed Jonathan Rhys Meyers, lately seen as Henry VIII on “The Tudors,” naively yearns to report from the battlefield. In a nightclub amid the luxury of Shanghai, he and two friends arrange to take over a Red Cross truck to get into the besieged city of Nanjing.
But the situation in Nanjing is far worse than they expected, and Hogg witnesses atrocities that the occupying Japanese do not want reported. On the harrowing verge of his execution, he’s saved by an unlikely pair — Chinese partisan Chen Hansheng, played with bravado and charm by veteran actor Chow Yun-Fat, and tough but tender nurse Lee Pearson, played by Australian actress Radha Mitchell.
Hogg is saved, but shaken to his pacifist roots by his rage at the brutality. “My mother had Gandhi to tea,” he says, explaining his past to a less-than-sympathetic Lee. And now, where will be safe for Hogg, who has seen too much to go back through Japanese-occupied lands? She recommends he travel to Huang Shi, where he can learn Chinese and recuperate, mentally as well as physically.
There, Hogg finds a derelict orphanage occupied by 60 boys, ranging from small ones to teens. His reception there is less than friendly, but with the help of Lee, whom the boys respect and need, he is grudgingly accepted. He cleans, renovates, repairs the electrical generator and gradually accepts responsibility for the boys.
In search of food in the closest city, Hogg meets Madame Wang, a beautiful aristocrat who has fallen on hard times as Chinese society is overwhelmed by war, gambling and opium use. Michelle Yeoh, who starred with Chow Yun-Fat in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and worked for director Roger Spottiswoode in “Tomorrow Never Dies,” brings a wistful elegance to this pivotal role.
The boys — with the exception of a few older ones — fully accept Hogg, whom they call “Ho-Ke,” and pitch in to study, run the orphanage and care for each other. They even start a garden with Chinese techniques, a sign of hope. Lee sums up her own and probably also Hogg’s mission: “When there’s no one else, you do what has to be done.” The two bond over their love for China and dedication to the boys, but Lee seems to be harboring a secret — could she possibly be in love with the dashing guerrilla leader Chen?
Gradually, then with worrying momentum, the war edges closer. Finally, Hogg realizes his orphanage will be occupied and his older boys conscripted. The only way to save them is a months-long trudge over snow-covered mountains to Shandan, on the edge of Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.
The early parts of the film are absorbing, with dozens of adorable, giggling Chinese boys and a satisfying, if somewhat predictable, plot trajectory. If at this point the story begins to seem familiar, reminiscent of the 1958 classic “Inn of the Sixth Happiness,” it helps to remember that this is history, not fiction.
This part of the film is graced by breathtaking cinematography as the ragged crew braves sandstorms and snow, and with thrilling images of Mongolian horseback riders. As the trek wears on, Lee’s dark secret is revealed and Hogg must decide whether to accept her as she is or judge and reject her.
On their odyssey, Hogg and the boys are menaced by both Japanese and Chinese armies who would like to make soldiers of the older boys — some of whom seem all too willing to fight.
After months of walking, the boys arrive in Shandan and settle into an abandoned monastery and begin rebuilding. But in days of scarce medicine and rampant disease, nobody’s safety is assured.
But if you wipe a tear at the end of this sad but true story of old-fashioned, quiet heroism, hang on to the very end to hear the words of three of the Children of Huang Shi, now elderly men, who knew Hogg and still revere his memory.
