Movie Review: The Children of Huang Shi

During the 1937 Japanese occupation of China, a British journalist (Meyers) takes a group of 60 orphaned boys on a 700 mile trek via the Silk Road to bring them to safety.

I love Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and if you haven't seen The Tudors, in which he portrays Henry VIII, I highly recommend sitting down to watch it. In The Children of Huang Shi, Meyers plays George Hogg, an inexperienced guy for whom the realities of a brutal civil war and occupation remain but an idea until he actually witnesses and experiences something truly horrifying. In an attempt to show him the background and real victims of the war, Hogg's new friends, a nurse named Lee and a resistance leader named Chen, send him off to a remote orphanage where 60 boys are living in squalor and ruled by a traumatized bully. There's a Lord of the Flies aspect to this orphanage - until George makes a commitment to turn things around. And turn things around he does, despite some sabotage by the ringleader and many other obstacles. But as the Japanese get closer and closer to the orphanage, it becomes clear to Hogg that in order to save these boys and give them a fighting chance to not only live but to heal their wounds, he needs to get them somewhere the war doesn't touch. He decides to march them over the Silk Road nearly 1000km to the edge of the Gobi Desert so they can all start anew.

This is based on a true story and at the end of the film some of the remaining orphans, now very old men, tell of their incredible journey and love for George Hogg.

This was a really great film with a strong message about the shittiness of war and the hope that can come from a rallying figure with a grand vision. It's also about coping mechanisms people use when trauma is a constant companion, what someone can accomplish with very few resources but sheer will, and it's about unconditional love and what that can achieve. The story was well-told and the acting solid. A definite recommend - 8.5/10.