George Hogg was a British journalist in the 1930's who managed to get into Nanjing during the Japanese occupation of China, and who witnessed examples of Japanese atrocities while he was there. Circumstances led him to an orphanage, where he took it upon himself to keep the 60 or so children in the orphanage safe from the Japanese by eventually leading them on a 1000 kilometre hike to a place of safety on the edge of the Gobi Desert.
There are a few scattered scenes of excitement here, revolving mostly around the Japanese. Those scenes are well done, with some especially well portrayed strafing runs by Japanese fighter planes against civilian targets. For the most part, though, this is not an exciting movie. It's a worthy movie. It's a story that deserves to be told. Jonathon Rhys Meyers was quite believable as Hogg, and there's a great depiction of China - all the way from the scenery along the way as the group journeys, to some reflection (probably not enough) on the tensions between the Communists and the Nationalists, who worked out an uneasy alliance with each other to defeat the Japanese during the occupation.
The movie seemed to me a bit too long. In particular, after the opening few minutes, when the Japanese atrocity in Nanjing occurs, the next hour or so until the journey begins is quite slow going. Overall, though, this is a good tribute to George Hogg, and I especially liked the very moving reflections offered as the closing credits rolled by some of the orphans (now adults) who shared their memories.
There are a few scattered scenes of excitement here, revolving mostly around the Japanese. Those scenes are well done, with some especially well portrayed strafing runs by Japanese fighter planes against civilian targets. For the most part, though, this is not an exciting movie. It's a worthy movie. It's a story that deserves to be told. Jonathon Rhys Meyers was quite believable as Hogg, and there's a great depiction of China - all the way from the scenery along the way as the group journeys, to some reflection (probably not enough) on the tensions between the Communists and the Nationalists, who worked out an uneasy alliance with each other to defeat the Japanese during the occupation.
The movie seemed to me a bit too long. In particular, after the opening few minutes, when the Japanese atrocity in Nanjing occurs, the next hour or so until the journey begins is quite slow going. Overall, though, this is a good tribute to George Hogg, and I especially liked the very moving reflections offered as the closing credits rolled by some of the orphans (now adults) who shared their memories.