Empire of the Sun Movie Trailers and Reviews

Empire of the Sun (1987)

Starring: John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers, Christian Bale, Joe Pantoliano, Ben Stiller

Director: Steven Spielberg

Release Date: December 9th, 1987
Release Date: 22nd April, 1988

Synopsis: An aristocratic British youth is seperated from his family at the start of World War II after the Japanese Army invades British controlled areas of China. Reduced to living on the street and fighting for food, the youth is eventually interned in a Japanese POW camp for British civilians. Here, admiration quickly develops both for captured American pilots and the Japanese themselves. When the war ends, the boy torn from everything he knew attempts to again find his parents.

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Empire of the Sun Movie Trailer

About the Movie

Empire of the Sun is a 1987 coming of age war film based on J. G. Ballard’s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. Steven Spielberg directed the film, which stars Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson and Nigel Havers. The film tells the story of Jamie “Jim” Graham, a young boy who goes from living in a wealthy British family in Shanghai, to becoming a prisoner of war in Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center, a Japanese internment camp, during World War II.

Harold Becker and David Lean were originally to direct before Spielberg came on board. Spielberg was attracted to directing the film because of a personal connection to Lean’s films and World War II topics. He considers it to be his most profound work on “the loss of innocence”.