Wartime Games

At its centre,in trying to establish the moral ambiguities and personal battlelines of a war,Shanghai attempts a Casablanca.

At its centre,in trying to establish the moral ambiguities and personal battlelines of a war,Shanghai attempts a Casablanca. Set during World War II,Shanghai is a war zone without really being one. The city houses nationalities from all across the world in its international sectors and the Japanese sector is where where one enters at own risk. The Japanese have run over virtually all of China except Shanghai,and a resistance movement is trying its best to ensure it stays that way. But with the Pearl Harbor bombing still some time away,Chinas misery remains essentially Chinas problem. The Americans,the Brits,the French notice everything,but look away.

In Shanghais casinos,restaurants,bars and parties,war is a distant hazard. Liquor flows,music plays,people dress up and party,and bury the open killings by the Japanese mostly under pleasant conversation. Into this scenario arrives Paul Soames (Cusack),a naval spy whos moved here from Berlin under the guise of being a Washington Post journalist,a cover that served him well in Germany as well.

With the Germans and the Japanese growing closer to each other,Soames promptly gets in the company of people who matter in Shanghai. He hopes this will help him solve the mystery of the death of his close friend and another US spy,Connor (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). But why should he be this surprised at the killing of a man trying to ferret out information in a place as dangerous as Shanghai,remains a mystery till the end of the film.

Hanging around in the right circles,Soames soon finds that Shanghai is essentially run by General Tanaka (Watanabe),who heads the Japanese intelligence,and the leader of the Shanghai triad,Anthony Lan-Ting (Yun-Fat). Lan-Ting has worked out a deal with the Japanese under which each lets the other be. However,the real surprise and revelation (in more ways than one) turns out to be Lan-Tings glamorous wife Anna (Gong Li).

Soames,finds himself drawn to her and discovers she hides many a secret behind her heavily made-up eyes and the smoke trails of her cigarette.

While Tanaka and Lan-Ting wield muscle,it is Anna who rules the Shanghai shadow world. There are several loopholes in Shanghai,not the least of which involves Connors girlfriend who may hold the key to his death. She is a track hopelessly stretched,with the hunt for who-killed-Connor seeming increasingly pointless in the light of characters far more interesting. And none is more fetching than Anna,played by Gong Li who is luminous in her beauty and mysterious in her aura,tinged at the same time by a hint of inexplicable sadness. Even as she is falling in love with Soames,the strength of her feelings for her husband is never under any doubt.

In comparison,the rest of the cast is a mere foil,including Cusack,who is barely able to keep up with the numerous expectations made of himfrom being a spy,a loyal friend and romantic,to a cynical soldier. Keep plot expectations aside,and

enjoy Shanghai for the atmospherics and for Gong Li.

shalini.langer@expressindia.com

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