EMPIRE OF THE SUN 103
involving even the camp’s commander, Sgt. Nagata (Masatô Ibu). Dr. Rawlins (Nigel
Havers), the camp’s British doctor, becomes Jim’s surrogate father and mentor. In
the aftermath of a bombing raid, Sgt. Nagata commands that the prisoners’ hospi-
tal be obliterated, but changes course when Jim asks for forgiveness. Through the
barbed wire fencing, Jim befriends a teenaged Kamikaze pi lot trainee (Takatarô
Kataoka). He also visits Basie in the American prisoner of war (POW) barracks.
Basie tasks Jim with setting up snare traps on the perimeter of the camp’s wire
(a way to test the area for land mines as Basie is plotting to escape). When the work
is completed, Basie lets Jim join him in the American barracks. One morning Jim
salutes departing Kamikaze pi lots by singing “Suo Gân,” a traditional Welsh lullaby.
The base is suddenly attacked by a flight of USAAF P-51 Mustang fighters. Over-
joyed at the sight, Jim climbs up a pagoda for a better vantage point. Dr. Rawlins
follows Jim in order to rescue him, whereupon Jim becomes emotional because he
is unable to remember his parents’ faces. The Japa nese evacuate the camp, and
Basie escapes during the confusion, leaving Jim behind though he had promised
to take Jim with him. During their evacuation march, many of the camp’s prison-
ers die from exhaustion, disease, and starvation. Arriving at a football stadium near
Nantao, Jim recognizes his parents’ Packard among war booty looted by the Japa-
nese. Waking up next to a young woman’s corpse, Jim witnesses the bright flash
from the atomic bombing of Nagasaki hundreds of miles to the East (9 August 1945).
Jim slips away from the group, wanders back to Suzhou Creek, and soon learns
that Japan has surrendered and the war is over. He also encounters the young kami-
kaze Japa nese pi lot trainee he befriended earlier. Basie reappears with a group of
armed Americans who have arrived to loot airdropped Red Cross containers. Jim’s
young friend is about to cut a mango for Jim with his katana (samurai sword) when
one of the Americans, mistakenly believing Jim to be in harm’s way, murders the
Japa nese youth. Basie volunteers to help Jim locate his parents, but Jim opts to stay
behind. Jim is located by American soldiers and brought to an orphanage, where
he is fi nally reunited with his mother and father.
Reception
During its seven- week run in the United States and Canada (11 December 1987–
28 January 1988; widest release: 673 theaters), Empire of the Sun took in $22.2 mil-
lion. It earned an additional $44.5 million in other countries, for a worldwide
total of $66.7 million— almost double its $35 million production budget— but was
still considered a box office flop, especially by Spielberg standards; Empire of the
Sun ranks near the bottom of Spielberg’s 30- film oeuvre for box office revenues.
The movie did rack up lots of award nominations— two Golden Globes and six
Oscars— and won three BAFTA Awards (for cinematography, sound design, and
music score). In keeping with tepid box office and award results, reviews were
mixed. Janet Maslin credited Spielberg for infusing the film with “a visual splen-
dor, a heroic adventurousness and an im mense scope that make it unforgettable”
(Maslin, 1987). Conversely, Desson Howe found the movie visually “flashy” but
ultimately rather puerile: “In a way, Spielberg is to film what Michael Jackson is to
pop. Both grew up within their respective arts rather than in real life, their human