Continuity mistake: When James is eating at home alone, he flips his spoon into his water glass. In some shots it's leaning against the right side of the glass, and in other shots it's against the left side.
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: John Malkovich, Christian Bale, Joe Pantoliano, Miranda Richardson, Leslie Phillips, Nigel Havers
Visible crew/equipment: When Jim returns to the party with his father after he met the Japanese soldiers, you can see the microphone at the bottom of the screen. (More recent transfers address this and make sure it is not seen).
Revealing mistake: When Jim is riding the bicycle through the empty hospital, the "Frigidaires" begin falling through the roof. One bursts open, dropping its contents onto the floor. Something from inside must have landed on the camera because you can see it jerk suddenly.
Trivia: When Jim returns home after losing his parents, his nanny slaps him. The actors had practiced a fake slap and fake reaction, but Spielberg and the actress playing the nanny conspired to make the slap real when the cameras were rolling, so Christian Bale's reaction would be genuine. Therefore, Bale is really being slapped, and his shocked reaction is no act.
Maxton: I heard you resigned from the Scouts.
Jim: I've become an atheist.
Jim: Amatus sum, amatus es, amatus est.
Jim: I can't remember what my parents look like.
Question: Most adults in Empire of the Sun either dislike Jim or are openly mean to him. Why?
Answer: I don't think anyone disliked Jim or was mean to him. Basically, he's a somewhat annoying, overly-active kid that the adults, who are in a very dire situation, simply didn't have much patience or the inclination to deal with. Also, the adults are mostly upper-class British, and in that era and before, they tended to be stricter with and more dismissive of children.
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Chosen answer: The first time, Jim says "Nanika no machigai desu. Bokutachi wa minna tomodachi desu yone. Senso no sei desu." This roughly translates to "There has been some sort of mistake. We are all friends aren't we? It is the war's fault." The second time, Jim only says "Nanika no machigai desu. Bokutachi wa minna..." and then gets pushed aside. "There has been a mistake, we are all...". I hope that helps.