Llama Land

the children of huang shi

I saw The Children of Huang Shi tonight. It told the "based on a true story" tale of a British man who saves the lives of Chinese orphans during the Japanese occupation of China immediately before World War 2. I had such high hopes for this film, and it was a huge disappointment. The screenplay was little more than cliches and stereotypes. The villains were evil to the core. The good guys were pure. The dialogue was horrific. They had lines like "you're the bravest, most beautiful woman I've ever met", "maybe these boys don't need me, but I need them" and "my god, where have you brought us? the 14th century?". Its sad when the best performances in the entire film are the kids who were mostly a bunch of unknowns.