At 94 million (U.S.) dollars, it's China's most expensive movie ever made.<br/> And the makers of "The Flowers of War" are pulling out all the stops for a coveted Academy Award.<br/> The highly-anticipated movie sees one of Hollywood's biggest actors Christian Bale in the lead role.<br/> He plays a mortician who gets caught up in the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.<br/> His job is to save a group of school girls from the clutches of the Japanese army.<br/> "The Flowers of War" is also being billed as the first Chinese movie to star a major Western actor.<br/> But Bale said that wasn't the selling point for him, director Zhang Yimou was.<br/> SOUNDBITE: Lead Actor Christian Bale, saying (English):<br/> "I didn't realise when I signed on to it that had not happened before. I don't feel like a pioneer, I just feel like an actor who liked Yimou and wanted to work with him" and it felt like it would be very interesting and something of an adventure."<br/> The movie holds little back in its graphic depiction of the massacre, a story everyone in China knows well.<br/> It's also heavy on the nationalism, something critics have said could further inflame negative sentiments of mainland Chinese audiences.<br/> But Zhang dismissed that idea, saying the issue is much more complex than that.<br/> SOUNDBITE: Film Director Zhang Yimou Saying (Mandarin):<br/> "I don't believe that everyone who watches a movie would be so narrow-minded as to hate a particular people. I'd say that I don't believe Americans would hate Germans after having watched a movie - it's not that simple."<br/> Zhang has already snagged Golden Lion and Golden Bear awards from the Venice and Berlin film festivals.<br/> Now he's hoping to add Oscar gold to that collection.<br/> "The Flowers of War" will hit Chinese screens on Friday (December 16) followed by a limited release in the United States next week.<br/> Cindy Martin, Reuters
