Overrated

Load of rubbish!!

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

It seems most of the reviewers have concentrated on the historical and philosophical aspects of this movie, but I'd like to focus on it terms of its success as a film. In general, I love a good epic, but this effort simply is no match for such brilliant achievements as David Lean's best -- Dr. Zhivago, Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia. This is a compelling story, whatever the historical inaccuracies may be; also, it's well produced, directed and acted, largely gorgeous to see, generally effective for this kind of big film. What it lacks is the physical and emotional sweep, the irresistible suspension of disbelief, the ability to grab your attention and hold it -- in other words, the extraordinary talents of such as Lean and a few others (John Ford, Henry Hathaway and William Wyler come to mind). Despite all this, I really enjoyed it on many levels and would recommend it to any lover of large-scale films of the Golden Age of Hollywood. I think it would not have suffered a bit had it been filmed in black & white. Nor did I miss the electronic enhancements so common in today's movies.

I have given this movie a fairly good mark because it is generally well directed, acted, and beautifully shot. It is also very good entertainment. But it is full of gross historical revisionism which does not do George Hogg full and proper credit and entirely omits the key role of the New Zealander, Rewi Alley, who was behind the orphanage and the leader of the march. So far as I can tell,the 'Australian nurse' with the American accent is a love interest invention and while mostly based upon real events, needlessly distorts history for some minor titillation (no pun intended).I continue to fail to understand while moving and gripping real life stories need to be needlessly tweaked when they more than adequately stand alone.Enjoyable but irritating at the same time if you know the true story.Hogg by the way way, caught tetanus by stubbing his toe playing basketball in a dung ridden surface, not under a broken truck axle. This is just an example of the needless revisionism so common today. The stubbed toe could have been made just as dramatic.

This is like a Schindler's List for the Chinese. It's a war story that focuses not on the terror and pain and atrocities, but on the good a person can do and it is based on a true story. Something that needs to be told and remembered.That being said, was it a well told story? Yes and no. It seemed terribly fragmented to me, moving from one scene to the other with the speed of a bullet. It is hard to "feel" the individual character changes because it all happens so fast. Of course, I couldn't expect a two hour movie to slowly tell a story that spanned many months in real life, but still. You can't show two friends entering China, then one dying and completely omit him from the story from then on because you don't have time. On the other hand, I hardly see the subject as appropriate for a mini series.Bottom line: good story, good acting, watch it if you feel the need for a good war time drama that inspires.

Greetings again from the darkness. It is difficult to imagine a more powerful, emotional story than the real life heroism of George Hogg. He was a British journalist who truly saved the life and dreams of 60 war Chinese war orphans during the 1937 invasion by Japan.The good news is that the story is remarkable, but the downside is how director Roger Spottiswoode ("Tomorrow Never Dies", "Turner and Hooch") is stuck with two miscast leads. Jonathan Rhys Meyers doesn't have the chops to pull off strength of Hogg and much worse is the downright horrible performance of Radha Mitchell as Lee, the war hardened do-gooder. The combination of these two severely weaken the film, but luckily not the story.Chow Yun-Fat and the great Michelle Yeoh play important supporting roles and both are excellent in their English speaking parts. Both are masters at letting simple facial gestures express the bulk of their thoughts. The children in the film are a pleasure to watch, though, we really don't connect with any of them.Some of the landscape is beautifully film and Spottiswoode does a good job of portraying the hardships of the 700 mile Silk Road journey, without it dragging the pace down. Again, the power of this story is unmistakable, but it is certainly not given its due by this rendition. Make sure to stay for the credits as we are treated to first hand memories of some of the surviving children (now very adavanced in age, but extremely lucid).