Empire of the Sun (film)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
P-51! Cadillac of the sky!
—Jim Graham (Christian Bale)

Empire of the Sun is a 1987 American Coming of Age war film based on J. G. Ballard's semi-autobiographical Empire of the Sun novel. 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 with his wealthy British family in Shanghai, to becoming a prisoner of war in the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center, a Japanese internment camp, during World War II.

Tropes used in Empire of the Sun (film) include:
  • And Starring: "And introducing Christian Bale".
  • Break the Cutie
  • Children Are Innocent: Jamie starts off not having any concept of the brutality of war, but he slowly learns the ugly truth.
  • Child Soldiers: One of the kamikaze pilots stationed near the internment camp.
  • Coming of Age Story: For Jim.
  • Cool Car: Jim's parents' Packard limo.
  • Cool Plane: "P-51, Cadillac of the Sky!" Jim has something of an airplane obsession.
  • CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: Averted - Jim attempts CPR a couple of times in the film, but it works in neither of the cases and in the second time (when he tries to resuscitate his kamikaze pilot friend), it's not pretty at all.
  • Death From Above: Japanese and American air raids.
  • Diegetic Switch: A Welsh lullaby goes from being sung by Christian Bale's character to playing with choral backup after the character has stopped singing.
  • Ethereal Choir: Jim Graham is a boy chorister, with his singing voice dubbed by real life choirboy James Rainbird. Choirs contribute throughout the soundtrack.
  • Great Escape: Basie and his fellow Americans plan one and are successful, but they leave Jim behind.
  • Imperial Japan: The main antagonists of the film.
  • Jerkass: Basie, despite taking care of Jim for the most part, often leans towards this.
    • Jerkass Woobie: Jamie starts as a rather spoiled kid who puts one of his servants through much stress, but quickly loses the jerkass part after he gets separated from his parents and becomes a full-fledged woobie.
  • The Medic: Dr Rawlins, who also tries to act as a Parental Substitute for Jim.
  • Obligatory War Crime Scene: The Japanese actions against civilian prisoners in retaliation for American bombing of Japanese military targets.
  • Orchestral Bombing: Complete with a score by John Williams.
  • No Swastikas: Well, it is the Pacific Theatre after all, and apparently there is nothing taboo about red suns.
  • Not So Different: Jim and the Japanese boy.
  • Proud Warrior Race: Jim seems to view the Japanese as being something of this, and certainly the Japanese see themselves as this, but for the most part we see Japanese guards beating unarmed prisoners.
  • Rare Vehicles: One of the IJA vehicles, a Nissan 4x4 used in a brief scene had to be custom-built from a Russian GAZ-69 because not one original example exists.
  • Real Person Cameo: J. G. Ballard appears as a party guest at the fancy dress party; he's wearing a Union Jack costume.
  • Refuge in Audacity: On the way to the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Camp, Jim slaps a Japanese soldier who is driving the truck. And gets away with it, despite being a powerless POW boy. The look on the Japanese man's face is priceless.
  • The Scrounger: As time goes on, Jim acquires scrounger skills from Basie, an American sailor and master scrounger.
  • Second Sino-Japanese War: This movie features the conflict between the Chinese and the Japanese and the effect on Westerners who go caught in the war zone.
  • Shanghai: The location of the first part of the movie.
  • Spoiled Brat: Jim starts out as a spoiled little wuss before he takes a level in badass.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: Averted for most of the film, but plenty of flashy explosions when it counts, including the distant flash of a nuclear weapon.
  • Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The story is semi-autobiographical after all.
  • War Is Hell: The emphasis of the story is on the impact of war on civilians.
  • Weapons Understudies: Postwar Soviet GAZ-69 SUV as an Imperial-era Japanese military vehicle.
  • World War II: The story takes place during World War II.
  • Worthy Opponent: Jim salutes and serenades the kamikaze pilots.
  • The X of Y: The Empire of the Sun.
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