Asian Films: Flowers of War and the Sword of Desperation - Movie Review Example

Asian Movie Review [Name] [Professor Name] [Course] [Date] One function of several Asian national cinemas is to deal with traumatic memories of political and/or military terror, and by depicting a “post-traumatic” identity to help viewers remember what is too painful to recuperate. Examine the significance of trauma in two films. Introductions Asian national cinemas have often dealt with memories of traumatic military and political terrors. The cinemas have also depicted ‘post traumatic’ identity. This has enabled viewers to remember issues that may be painful to recuperate from. Indeed, contemporary Asian cinema has clearly mirrored these military terrors and traumas. Although cinemas may not represent reality, they are affected by collective feelings and the effects on them. Most historical or propaganda films from Japan and China have focused on these themes (Carter 2010; Miura 2008). Two such Asian films include Flowers of War and the Sword of Desperation. This essay argues that the recent spate of Asian films have employed the use of trauma to evoke traumatic memories of political terror and to depict the themes of helplessness, desperation, betrayal and loyalties in the histories of Asian countries (Yoshimoto 1991). Description: Flowers of War and Sword of Desperation Recent war films such as Flowers of War and Sword of Desperation do particularly seek consensus in putting forth a direct link between the modern-day Asia and war time. The Sword of Desperation is a 2011 Japanese film. The film features Kanemi Sanzaemon, an expert swordsman who murders Lord Ukyo’s concubine (Lady Renko) in cold blood. Kanemi gives no reason for his actions although it is later revealed through traumatic flashbacks that he killed her to protect his clan from the corrupting influences of Lady Renko (DCFilm Review 2011). Instead of being executed as is the norm in the film, he is put on house arrest for one year. He is also stripped of a part of his stipend and is hence forced to rely on handouts from his niece Rio during his house arrest. Kanemi is later released under the condition that he must serve as Lord Ukyo’s bodyguard. The film culminates into a suspenseful and a traumatic battle (Foster 2013). The second movie is called “Flowers of War”. It is a Chinese war film produced in 2011. The setting of the story is in Nanking, China in 1937. It features a group of escapees who seek refuge in a church to escape from invasion of the city. Japan invades China in 1937 to set off the Sino-Japanese that was followed by the brutal Nanking Massacre of around 260,000 Chinese. At least 20,000 females were also raped (Timeout 2012). Thematic significance of Trauma Flowers of War and Sword of Desperation are preoccupied with psychological transformations in the aftermath of war and feuds, interclass feuds, nationalism and displacement that characterized the Asian histories. The focus has been on using trauma as an attempt to evoke traumatic memories of the past since the phenomenon reveals an abhorrence of the historical events in the Asian history. The experiences of trauma created in Flowers of War and Sword of Desperation adhere to the standard definitions of trauma. Ordinarily, trauma refers to the response to an overwhelming or unexpected violent and disturbing event that is not fully grasped as it occurs, but subsequently returns to nightmares, emotional tragedies, flashbacks or some other kind of repetitive phenomenon (CSTS 2013). In watching Flowers of War and Sword of Desperation, it is perceivable that although the two films do not inflict physical violence upon the audience, they both tend to present to their viewers images of traumatic tragedies that characterized Asian histories (Bodnar 2001). For instance, by watching both movies, the mind goes into a mental shock and becomes incapable of interpreting the impressions of the event into logical mental representation (Anon n.d.). In the Flowers of War, the scenes of the massacre evoke these images, while in the Sword of Desperation, the scene of how Kanemi plunges a knife into Lord Ukyo’s concubine, presents these images. Also, both films employ the use of trauma to expose the viewers to the tyrannies and vicious control of the Asian territories in the past. For instance, the cruel officialdom and the tyrannies of the Tokugama in the 9th century in the Asian territories are showed in Sword of Desperation. In Flowers of War, the massacre by the Japanese in the Chinese territory shows how Japan viciously sought to assume control of the Asian territories in the past (Standish 2000). Trauma is used in both films to express nationalism and resentment, and loyalty and betrayals to the ruling class. With regard to Flowers of War, it is perceivable that even as the movie resonates with traumatic phenomena, its seems to legitimize China’s pursuit of war in East Asia while at the same time denying both Japan and China responsibility for atrocities (McCarthy 2011). A similar trend is seen in Sword of Desperation although differently. Here, Trauma is used to express loyalty and betrayal to the Tokugawa shogunate. Trauma is used to cause resentment to the Tokugawa rule that gave landowners called daimyo great powers in the 9th century (Webb 2011). Trauma is used in the Sword of Desperation and Flowers of War to show the inherent tragedies that happened in the generations and how it caused havoc to the lives of the people in these generations. In the Sword of Desperation and Flowers of War, trauma helps to show the inherent fears and desperations that people had to live with during the Edo (pre-Tokyo Japan) generation (Foster 2013). In Flowers of War, fears and desperations that the Chinese had to live with during the Sino-Japanese war are evoked. In both cases, trauma is based on the meaningless and spiteful loss of young lives (teenagers aged 17 and above) as well as in the powerlessness to change history. In both films, the viewer’s trauma is circular since it allows for revisiting both scenes. Both Sword of Desperation and Flowers of War have a unique ability to trace the source of trauma in the same way they exposes the viewers to different traumatic scenes during the time of viewing. This is a distinct form of ‘vicarious trauma”, which actually uses all aspects of the original traumatic experiences at the start of the movies to the end (Kaplan 2005). An element of such aspects exists in Sword of Desperation, where the vicariousness appears to feature more through flashbacks. This allows viewers to experience trauma in a detached and safe circularity (Foster, S 2013). This is evidenced at the beginning of the film when Kanamo plunges a knife into Lord Ukyo’s concubine. It is also evidenced at the end of the film when insistent tragedies explode into a horrendous war. This gives viewers a strong emotional experience allowing them to memorise and recall it through flashbacks of similar brutal battle scenes (DeMeester 1999). Both Flowers of War and Sword of Desperation reflect historical trauma, both of which are less painful than that of the postwar aftermaths. In both cases, the movies use the theme of trauma to show the political terrors in the Asian histories. In a way, a viewer is given a glimpse of distasteful life in the past, which the audience long to see erased through shock of defeat. It is hence the trauma that the films lack the capacity to face except through displacement. This means that the political etrror can only appear directly in the films through absurd plot inconsistencies (Bodnar 2001; Strauss 2006). Typically, mental trauma is often hypothesised as originating from experiences that are both forceful and shocking to a level normal psychological structures are incapable of managing, it can be and that applied to depict a feeling of helplessness. The two films employ the features to depict a feeling of helplessness in the political terrors that characterised Asian histories. “Flowers of War” evinces symptoms of rupturing effects of trauma in their negating cinematic structures and innovative ways of depicting traumatic experiences, such as the Japanese Messacre of helpless Chinese and the raping of helpless women (Almedom 2005). A feeling of helplessness is also depicted at the start of the film. For instance, the opening scenes in Flowers of War are set in the streets in an actual fog of war as well as with smoke that appears to isolate the characters from the real environment and Nanjing. A similar feeling of helplessness is depicted in Sword of Desperation, where Lord Ukyo is shown to have exaggerated powers over Kanemi’s clan. A feeling of helplessness is depicted at the killing of Lady Reno (Webb 2011). The two films present desperate nations of young people who are either under desperation or are willing to sacrifice their lives for their countries. This is despite the films being too conscious to their viewer-base who may have conflicting opinions about nationalism and war. To reinforce the experience of trauma depicted at the beginning of both films, repetitive images, flashbacks and sounds are used. This enables the films to reflect the tragedies of the Asian history using ‘repetitive phenomenon.” Physically, it compels viewers to relate to the traumatizing scenes in the Asian histories. Both films do not repeat the same image-sound combinations originally employed to traumatize the viewers. Rather, they return the viewer to the sites of trauma using a completely new narrative that appear irrelevant with respect to the original montage concerning the effects of the wars (Carter 2010). The films appear as attempting to construct a hegemonic vision of their country that appeal to all sides through trauma and political terror. However, by doing these, they end up depicting empty nations that can mean anything to any viewer. Political terror and trauma are products of the fact that these two movies, both of which are fantasies, are able to carry the memories of Sino-Japanese war and Japan during the Edo period in the 9th century (Hartel 2012). Sword of Desperation and Flowers of War use trauma to show the desperate rises and the tragic falls of a Japanese empire and China during Sino-Japanese War respectively. In Flowers of War, the images of frantic China are depicted as well as that of a society (Japan) that is capable of inflicting suffering and pain. Using contradiction, cultural memory is subjected. The same case happens in Sword of Desperation, where Kanemi’s clan is depicted as a frantic community while the ruling class is depicted as a society capable of inflicting suffering and pain (Webb 2011). A significant feature of both films is their ability to create an arbitrated experience of trauma. Instead of employing a classical realist approach to depicting the traumas of the wars, both films used an experimental avant-garde style to represent the perplexing trauma that the war survivors went through (Walker 2005). This is seen in the Japanese massacre of the Chinese in Flowers of War. Although a more effective method to depict these traumatizing events would have been to perform or show live footages, it is clear that the directors of the two movies are aware of the shortcoming of such a type of representation (DeMeester 1999). Hence, both films attempt to use unique and disturbing montage sequence used mostly in modern films. For instance, Flowers of War sets of with a sequence of events and a variety of strange images, both of which are unrecognizable. For instance, the opening scenes in the movie are set in the streets in an actual fog of war as well as with smoke that appears to isolate the characters from the real environment and Nanjing. Conclusions Review of the Sword of Desperation and Flowers of War show that the recent spate of Asian films has employed the use of trauma to evoke traumatic memories of political terror and to depict the themes of helplessness, desperation, betrayal and loyalties in the histories of Asian countries. These have been related to the current trends of nationalism. Overall, the two Asian films Flowers of War and Sword of Desperation use trauma as an attempt to forget the post war era, since the phenomenon reveals an abhorrence of the historical events in the Asian history. Trauma acts as sensitive reflections of the continual changes and turmoil in the political and socio-economic spheres. References Almedom, A 2005, "Resilience, Hardiness, Sense Of Coherence, And Posttraumatic Growth: All Pathsleading To Light At The End Of The Tunnel?," Journal of Loss and Trauma, Vol. 10, pp/253–265 Anon n.d., Introduction to Film, Trauma and Holocaust, viewed 11 Nov 2013, http://www.temple.edu/tempress/chapters_1400/1653_ch1.pdf Bodnar, J 2001, "Saving Private Ryan and Postwar Memory in America," American Historical Association Vol. 106 No. , 805-817 Carter, D 2010, "Hiroshima mon amour: The Art of Vicarious Trauma," University of Virginia Undergraduate Media Studies, viewed 11 Nov 2013, http://www.movabletypemedia.com/2010/04/hiroshima-mon-amour-the-art-of-vicarious-trauma/ CSTS 2013, Powerful Movies, Powerful Memories of War Advice on Whether and How to Watch, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda DCFilm Review 2011, Sword of Desperation Closes with a Bang, viewed 12 Nov 2013, http://www.dcfilmreview.com/dc_film_review/reviews/entries/2011/4/12_sword_of_desperation_closes_with_a_bang.html DeMeester, K 1999, "Post-traumatic Culture: Injury and Interpretation in the Nineties," Modern Fiction Vol 45 No. 4, 1081-1084 Foster, S 2013, Samurai Saga Lands Deep, Emotional Blows, viewed 12 Nov 2013, http://www.sbs.com.au/films/movie/9927/Sword-of-Desperation- Hartel, N 2012 Sword of Desperation, DVD Talk, viewed 12 Nov 2013, http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/54238/sword-of-desperation/ Kaplan, 2005. Trauma Culture: The Politics of Terror and Loss in Media and Literature. Rutgers University Press,  New Brunswick, N.J. McCarthy, T 2011, The Flowers of War: Film Review, The Hollywood Reporter, viewed 11 Noc 2013, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/flowers-of-war-film-review-christian-bale-272125 Miura, S 2008, "A comparative analysis of a Japanese film and its American remake ,"SJSU ScholarWorks, viewed 11 Nov 2013, http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4484&context=etd_theses Standish, I 2000, Myth and Masculinity in the Japanese Cinema, Curzon, Richmond Strauss, 2006, "Trauma’s Dialectic in Civil War Literature and Film," International Journal of the Humanities, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp.206-224 Timeout 2012, Time Out says, viewed 11 Nov 2013, http://www.timeout.com/london/film/the-flowers-of-war Walker, J 2005, Trauma Cinema: Documenting Incest and the Holocaust, University of California Press, Berkeley Webb, C 2011, Japan Cuts 2011: Sword of Desperation Review,' viewed 12 Nov 2013, http://twitchfilm.com/2011/07/japan-cuts-2011-sword-of-desperation-review.html Yoshimoto, M 1991, “Melodrama, Postmodernism, and Japanese Cinema,” East West Film Journal Vol. 5 No.1, pp.28–55 Read More

Thematic significance of Trauma Flowers of War and Sword of Desperation are preoccupied with psychological transformations in the aftermath of war and feuds, interclass feuds, nationalism and displacement that characterized the Asian histories. The focus has been on using trauma as an attempt to evoke traumatic memories of the past since the phenomenon reveals an abhorrence of the historical events in the Asian history. The experiences of trauma created in Flowers of War and Sword of Desperation adhere to the standard definitions of trauma.

Ordinarily, trauma refers to the response to an overwhelming or unexpected violent and disturbing event that is not fully grasped as it occurs, but subsequently returns to nightmares, emotional tragedies, flashbacks or some other kind of repetitive phenomenon (CSTS 2013). In watching Flowers of War and Sword of Desperation, it is perceivable that although the two films do not inflict physical violence upon the audience, they both tend to present to their viewers images of traumatic tragedies that characterized Asian histories (Bodnar 2001).

For instance, by watching both movies, the mind goes into a mental shock and becomes incapable of interpreting the impressions of the event into logical mental representation (Anon n.d.). In the Flowers of War, the scenes of the massacre evoke these images, while in the Sword of Desperation, the scene of how Kanemi plunges a knife into Lord Ukyo’s concubine, presents these images. Also, both films employ the use of trauma to expose the viewers to the tyrannies and vicious control of the Asian territories in the past.

For instance, the cruel officialdom and the tyrannies of the Tokugama in the 9th century in the Asian territories are showed in Sword of Desperation. In Flowers of War, the massacre by the Japanese in the Chinese territory shows how Japan viciously sought to assume control of the Asian territories in the past (Standish 2000). Trauma is used in both films to express nationalism and resentment, and loyalty and betrayals to the ruling class. With regard to Flowers of War, it is perceivable that even as the movie resonates with traumatic phenomena, its seems to legitimize China’s pursuit of war in East Asia while at the same time denying both Japan and China responsibility for atrocities (McCarthy 2011).

A similar trend is seen in Sword of Desperation although differently. Here, Trauma is used to express loyalty and betrayal to the Tokugawa shogunate. Trauma is used to cause resentment to the Tokugawa rule that gave landowners called daimyo great powers in the 9th century (Webb 2011). Trauma is used in the Sword of Desperation and Flowers of War to show the inherent tragedies that happened in the generations and how it caused havoc to the lives of the people in these generations. In the Sword of Desperation and Flowers of War, trauma helps to show the inherent fears and desperations that people had to live with during the Edo (pre-Tokyo Japan) generation (Foster 2013).

In Flowers of War, fears and desperations that the Chinese had to live with during the Sino-Japanese war are evoked. In both cases, trauma is based on the meaningless and spiteful loss of young lives (teenagers aged 17 and above) as well as in the powerlessness to change history. In both films, the viewer’s trauma is circular since it allows for revisiting both scenes. Both Sword of Desperation and Flowers of War have a unique ability to trace the source of trauma in the same way they exposes the viewers to different traumatic scenes during the time of viewing.

This is a distinct form of ‘vicarious trauma”, which actually uses all aspects of the original traumatic experiences at the start of the movies to the end (Kaplan 2005). An element of such aspects exists in Sword of Desperation, where the vicariousness appears to feature more through flashbacks. This allows viewers to experience trauma in a detached and safe circularity (Foster, S 2013). This is evidenced at the beginning of the film when Kanamo plunges a knife into Lord Ukyo’s concubine.

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