Brand New THE FLOWERS OF WAR Poster

There’s a new poster for The Flowers of War (formerly called Heroes of Nanking), a historical Chinese epic starring Christian Bale and directed by Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers). The story, based on Yan Geling’s novel The 13 Women of Nanjing, will see Bale as an American priest who shelters a group of prostitutes and female students in his church during the 1937 wartime atrocity known as “The Rape of Nanking”. Here’s the official synopsis:

In 1937, Nanking stands at the forefront of a war between China and Japan. As the invading Japanese Imperial Army overruns China’s capital city, desperate civilians seek refuge behind the nominally protective walls of a western cathedral. Here, John Miller (CHRISTIAN BALE), an American trapped amidst the chaos of battle and the ensuing occupation takes shelter, joined by a group of innocent schoolgirls and thirteen courtesans, equally determined to escape the horrors taking place outside the church walls. Struggling to survive the violence and persecution wrought by the Japanese army, it is an act of heroism which eventually leads the seemingly disparate group to fight back, risking their lives for the sake of everyone. Through treacherous surroundings and facing unimaginable evil, THE FLOWERS OF WAR, inspired by true life events, manages to tell a genuine story of hope, love and sacrifice. With nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, fate always has a way of bringing the most unlikely heroes together.

The $90 million The Flowers of War, 40% in English and the rest in Mandarin Chinese which lets it squeak by under Academy rules, will be China’s submission for the best foreign-language film Academy Award, China’s Film Bureau announced on Friday. The movie is now set to hit Chinese theaters on December 16th, 2011.