Christian Bale goes to China for bloodshed and prostitutes in the trailer for The Flowers of War

Before he cleans up the streets of Gotham next summer in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, Christian Bale will travel back in time for some heroism and carnage in THE FLOWERS OF WAR, from director Zhang Yimou (HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, HERO).

This international trailer doesn’t exactly lay out the story in any real sensible way, but the movie is China’s official selection for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, so it’s gotta be some powerful stuff. It definitely meets the quotient for the WAR part of the title. It’s also reportedly China’s most expensive production at $90 million, surpassing John Woo’s historical epic RED CLIFF.

The synopsis: In 1937, Nanking stands at the forefront of a war between China and Japan. As the invading Japanese Imperial Army overruns China’s capital city, desperate civilians seek refuge behind the nominally protective walls of a western cathedral. Here, John Miller (CHRISTIAN BALE), an American trapped amidst the chaos of battle and the ensuing occupation takes shelter, joined by a group of innocent schoolgirls and thirteen courtesans, equally determined to escape the horrors taking place outside the church walls. Struggling to survive the violence and persecution wrought by the Japanese army, it is an act of heroism which eventually leads the seemingly disparate group to fight back, risking their lives for the sake of everyone. Through treacherous surroundings and facing unimaginable evil, THE FLOWERS OF WAR, inspired by true life events, manages to tell a genuine story of hope, love and sacrifice. With nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, fate always has a way of bringing the most unlikely heroes together.