Overall, an excellent work by Zhang! I do not concur with those who may look down on it as propaganda. To be sure, the movie created pieces of tired plots as a reminiscence of patriotism, say, the heroine cited an ancient poem reminding her champions, the other eleven exquisite ladies, of the necessity of sacrificing themselves to save the girl students. But surely they were not calling for people to devote themselves at all cost to stupid things such as a leader, a party, or future victory for a great cause, but instead to protect the weak from the atrocity committed by armed thugs like LITTLE JAPANESE at the time. Neither did the brave Chinese soldiers fought hopelessly to die with the enemies at the beginning of the movie belong to the camp which won the civil war in the late 1940s. And, you see, the staring actor Bale, the FARTHER, is actually an ordinary WHITE MAN, a coward and flirt at first but ultimately became a hero who took high risk to save the young girls. The movie shows no signs of bootlicking and flattery. And I do not think this movie has the capacity of sowing and arousing hatred against Japanese so as to add legitimacy to current government. It is just a movie, a commercial product targeting Oscar audiences! It is worth your money and time. Now, take my advice to walk in a theatre to enjoy the show. I bet it won’t let you down.