1911 movie -- photos from filming as extras and info links – Arts & Entertainment

Nicki dishes up a review of Zhang Yimou's new (and now highly controversial) film staring Christian Bale.

The world needs another Nanjing Massacre film like it needs another Christian Bale film -- and that's just what it's getting from big-name directory Zhang Yimou.

Christian Bale will star in Zhang Yimou's upcoming 600 million yuan ($90.2 million) Nanjing Heroes about the Nanjing Massacre, China's most famous director said at a press conference Wednesday.

"The basic question remains unanswered of whether a nation as big as China and with the democratic deficit from which the country has always suffered can be ruled other than by a top-down regime. What is clear is that, for all the celebrations in the mainland and Taiwan this autumn, the revolution of 1911-12 brought no real solution and left China facing decades of suffering."

The first thing that I noticed from the exhibit was that China's default status in the world is "glorious," and that this glory comes from the Party. This is hardly a surprising claim, but its importance in the foundational myth is worth noting. Even the title of the exhibit reinforces this idea - The Road to Rejuvenation.