An aristocratic British youth is seperated from his family at the start
of World War II after the Japanese Army invades British controlled areas
of China. Reduced to living on the street and fighting for food, the
youth is eventually interned in a Japanese POW camp for British
civilians. Here, admiration quickly develops both for captured American
pilots and the Japanese themselves. When the war ends, the boy torn from
everything he knew attempts to again find his parents.
Memorable quotes for Empire of the Sun :
[Tossing a pair of sunglasses to Jim as the Japanese army begin to beat him]
Basie: I want these back when they're done.
Basie: I want these back when they're done.
Jim:
I can't remember what my parents look like.
Jim:
I was dreaming about God.
Mary Graham: What did he say?
Jim: Nothing. He was playing tennis. Perhaps that's where God is all the time and that's why you can't see Him when you're awake, do you think?
Mary Graham: I don't know. I don't know about God.
Jim: Perhaps He's our dream... and we're His.
Mary Graham: What did he say?
Jim: Nothing. He was playing tennis. Perhaps that's where God is all the time and that's why you can't see Him when you're awake, do you think?
Mary Graham: I don't know. I don't know about God.
Jim: Perhaps He's our dream... and we're His.
[Frank and Basie are about to leave Jim in the street]
Jim: [desperately] Basie, first I could show you some rich pickings. Hundreds of houses left empty. I could show you some of the houses I lived in before Frank found me. They were luxuriant!
Basie: Luxuriant? You had good sense being born there, Jim. I'm sure there was good living.
Jim: There certainly was good living, Basie. There - there was opulence!
Basie: Heh heh. Opulence. Frank, we'll go and take a look at some of these houses. Let's go, Frank. Opulence.
Jim: [desperately] Basie, first I could show you some rich pickings. Hundreds of houses left empty. I could show you some of the houses I lived in before Frank found me. They were luxuriant!
Basie: Luxuriant? You had good sense being born there, Jim. I'm sure there was good living.
Jim: There certainly was good living, Basie. There - there was opulence!
Basie: Heh heh. Opulence. Frank, we'll go and take a look at some of these houses. Let's go, Frank. Opulence.
Jim:
If the Americans land, the Japanese will fight.
Dr. Rawlins: You admire the Japanese?
Jim: Well, they're brave, aren't they?
Dr. Rawlins: That's important, is it, Jim?
Jim: It's a good thing if you want to win a war.
Dr. Rawlins: But we don't want them to win, do we. Remember, we're British.
Jim: Yes. I've never been there.
Dr. Rawlins: You admire the Japanese?
Jim: Well, they're brave, aren't they?
Dr. Rawlins: That's important, is it, Jim?
Jim: It's a good thing if you want to win a war.
Dr. Rawlins: But we don't want them to win, do we. Remember, we're British.
Jim: Yes. I've never been there.
[Nurses attempt to wake a sickly man]
Jim: Can I have his shoes when he's dead?
Dr. Rawlins: God you're a pragmatist, Jim.
Jim: Can I have his shoes when he's dead?
Dr. Rawlins: God you're a pragmatist, Jim.
[Jim grabs wildly at Chinese soldiers after hearing about the atomic bomb]
Jim: I saw it! I saw it! It was like a white light in the sky.
Jim: I saw it! I saw it! It was like a white light in the sky.
Sgt. Nagata:
[to Jim] Boy. Difficult boy.
Jim:
Learned a new word today. Atom bomb. It was like the God taking a photograph.
Jim:
Amatus sum, amatus es, amatus est.
Chinese Youth:
No mama. No papa. No whiskey sodas.
Basie:
Oh, buying and selling, Frank. You know. Life.
[Jim's hassling the truck driver on the way to Soochow]
Jim: Do you know where we are? We're here, see? And now we have to turn left. Do you hear me? When I say turn left, you turn left! When I say turn right, turn right! You have to do what I say otherwise we'll never get to Soochow then you'll be shot!
Jim: Do you know where we are? We're here, see? And now we have to turn left. Do you hear me? When I say turn left, you turn left! When I say turn right, turn right! You have to do what I say otherwise we'll never get to Soochow then you'll be shot!
Jim:
Dr. Rawlin, do you remember how we had helped build the runway? If we
die like the others, our bones would be IN the runway. In a way, it's
OUR runway...
Dr. Rawlins: No it's THEIR runway, Jim! Try not to think so much! Try not to THINK so much!
Dr. Rawlins: No it's THEIR runway, Jim! Try not to think so much! Try not to THINK so much!
Jim:
I touched it! I touched it! I felt the heat! I can taste it in my mouth, oil and cordite!
Jamie:
Help me, I'm British.
[last lines]
Mary Graham: [upon finding her barely recognizable son] Jamie?... Jamie?... Jamie?
Mary Graham: [upon finding her barely recognizable son] Jamie?... Jamie?... Jamie?
[first lines]
Narrator: [title card] In 1941 China and Japan had been in a state of undeclared war for four years. A Japanese army of occupation was in control of much of the countryside and many towns and cities. In Shanghai thousands of Westerners, protected by the diplomatic security of the International Settlement, continued to live as they had lived since the British came here in the 19th century and built in the image of their own country... built banking houses, hotels, offices, churches and homes that might have been uprooted from Liverpool or Surrey. Now their time was running out. Outside Shanghai the Japanese dug in and waited... for Pearl Harbor.
Narrator: [title card] In 1941 China and Japan had been in a state of undeclared war for four years. A Japanese army of occupation was in control of much of the countryside and many towns and cities. In Shanghai thousands of Westerners, protected by the diplomatic security of the International Settlement, continued to live as they had lived since the British came here in the 19th century and built in the image of their own country... built banking houses, hotels, offices, churches and homes that might have been uprooted from Liverpool or Surrey. Now their time was running out. Outside Shanghai the Japanese dug in and waited... for Pearl Harbor.
Jim:
[during an American airstrike] P-51! Cadillac of the sky!
Basie:
Jesus, those Coney Island pilots!
Jim:
I can bring everyone back. Everyone.
Jim:
[about the Japanese troops camped nearby] It almost looks as if they're waiting for something to happen...
John Graham, Jim's father: Yes.
Jim: They didn't look angry or anything...
Maxton: It's not their anger; it's their patience.
John Graham, Jim's father: Yes.
Jim: They didn't look angry or anything...
Maxton: It's not their anger; it's their patience.
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