Being born Chinese and growing up in Shanghai, I have conflicting feelings about this film. On the one hand, I think it is powerful and very well made and I am not surprised to learn that David Lean had something to do with it. On the other hand, the film in a way glorifies the Japanese military of that era which committed atrocities as grave as the Germans did in Europe. When I was watching the film, many of the images of the photos of "the rape of Nanking" I saw as a child flashed through my mind. Technically this film is quite good. However, as the maker of the "Schindler's List", Spielberg should have known better than to romanticize Japanese Zeros soaring above Shanghai, through an innocent young boy's view and with evocative music. There is this film (the name of which eludes me at the moment) about a British boy's view of the "Battle of Britain" where there is a scene (complete with music from the "Ring") in which a German balloon was shot down over Britain. I guess it all depends on one's point of view. While an American or even a British child in a prison camp could view the war as a romantic adventure, the Jewish, Polish and Chinese children could not. Their views of the war are reflected in Anne Frank's Diary.