CAST:
George Hogg .... Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Jake Chen/Chen Hansheng .... Chow Yun-Fat
Lee Pearson .... Radha Mitchell
Madam Wang .... Michelle Yeoh
Shi Kai .... Guang Li
... .... David Wenham
... .... Jin Shuyuan
Information provided by Michelle Yeoh Webb Theatre
Pictures from the film - Pictures from press conference
Movie's release 2008
Co-Production: Australia / China / Germany
Production Company: Ming Productions, Zero Films, Bluewater Pictures (CHS) Pty Ltd Exec. Producer: Lillian Birnbaum
Producer: Jonathan Shteinman Arthur Cohn Peter Loehr Wieland Schulz-Kiel Martin Hagemann
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Writer: Jane Hawksley Australian
Sales: Dendy Films Pty Ltd
International Sales: Hyde Park
Duration: 100 mins
(05/13/07) Synopsis: [Spoiler Warning] The story of CHILDREN OF THE HUANG SHI is set in war-ravaged China during the
late 1930's. It is a story of how a young Englishman, George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), came to lead sixty orphaned children
on an extraordinary and perilous journey of almost a thousand miles across the snow-bound Liu Pan Shan mountains to safety
on the edge of the Mongolian desert. And of how, in doing so, he grew to learn the true meaning of courage. When George
Hogg graduated from Oxford, he wanted to be a writer/journalist. He arrived in Shanghai during his world tour and became a
wartime journalist. He did not realize the cruelty of the war until he witnessed the infamous Nanking Massacre (during which an
estimated 300,000 Chinese civilians were killed). He wanted to report the horrible truth to the world but the pictures he took were
discovered by Japanese soldiers and he was arrested. Jack Chen (Chow Yun-Fat), a West Point graduate and a military officer of
a communist guerrilla force, rescued him from under the Japanese's gun. Hogg and Chen became friends. When the injured
Hogg needed a place to nurse his wounds, Chen was looking for a place where the English speaker could safely stay. An
Australian nurse, Lee Pearson (Radha Mitchell), suggested Huang Shi in Hubei province. In the beautiful mountains of
Huang Shi lived some missionaries and they hosted a home for some war orphans. When George Hogg arrived in Huang Shi,
the last missionary had just died of illness and he found 60 unruly orphaned boys running around. The horrible experience in
their lives made them disobedient. Hogg did not like this place and he wanted to return to the real war frontier. Lee Pearson
suddenly left and he was left to take care of the children by himself. A widowed aristocrat and local retail merchant, Madam Wang
(Michelle Yeoh), became his only help. Hogg's effort had gained him love from the children by the time Chen and Pearson
returned. The war did not spare them. The Japanese army was approaching and the Nationalist Party wanted the older boys to
join the Chinese army to fight the Japanese. Hogg decided the only escape for the boys was to travel to a safe haven in the inner
Mongolian desert. George Hogg, Jack Chen, Lee Pearson, and the 60 children went on the arduous 1,000 mile journey. They
experienced the dangerous conditions such as snowstorms and sandstorms and once they barely missed running into
Japanese soldiers face to face. Three adults, two men and one woman, developed some relationships among each other.
They finally arrived in Shandan, Gansu province. There they had planned to build a new home and new school for the boys.
(Major spoiler warning - highlight the text in the brackets to read)[ George Hogg caught tetanus from a minor injury he sustained
from the journey. They tried but failed to find blood serum to save him. He died at the age of 30. ]
|
|