In 1930s China, Brit journo George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) heads into the heart of the war with Japan. After almost being beheaded in Nanjing, he finds himself reluctantly babysitting a group of orphaned schoolboys in the mountains and falling for their nurse. As the danger of war closes in, Hogg realises he must lead the children 700 miles to safety.
Based on a true story. New Zealander Rewi Alley was the actual hero, but in the film his British counterpart George Hogg takes the limelight. Alley was possibly written out for political reasons - he was a communist and rumoured to be gay.
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In 1930s China, Brit journo George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) heads into the heart of the war with Japan. After almost being beheaded in Nanjing, he finds himself reluctantly babysitting a group of orphaned schoolboys in the mountains and falling for their nurse. As danger closes in, Hogg realises he must lead the children 700 miles to safety.
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Giving Jonathan Rhys Meyers the kind of manly yet paternal role Spencer Tracy once mastered, this carefully wrought international production relates the basic story of reporter George Hogg without any vibrancy, emotion or style.
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Roger Spottiswoode directs with old-fashioned style, avoiding the saccharine with realistic depictions of a war-ravaged China (where he filmed) and a cast well versed in stiff-upper-lip.
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The Kiwi commie has been given the kybosh. It's a pity because the true story is even better than the movie one, and there's no good structural reason why a movie with two male heroes can't work. It's not that uncommon: John Huston made a memorable adventure in 1975 out of Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King, for example. The Killing Fields is another.
Full review
You can be 100 percent in favor of rescuing adorable orphans from war-torn zones and still find The Children of Huang Shi a tough haul.
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If you can get past the Eurocentric focus, there are worse ways to pass the time than to see The Children of Huang Shi, if only because the glimpse into the time and place are captivating and the images are gorgeous.
Full review
Full of incident but nearly devoid of dramatic tension, The Children of Huang Shi is a based-on-fact saga that has lost much of its power on the long road to the screen.
Full reviewChildren of the Silk Road is available to stream in Australia now on Google Play and Apple TV.
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