Christian Bale proved to be the bane of Chinese authorities when he tried to visit activist lawyer Chen Guang-cheng while on a promotional visit for his new movie, "The Flowers of War". Ironically, the movie would have cast the Chines government in a sympathetic light not only because it brings Hollywood to modern China but also because the movie dealt with China's suffering at the hands of World War Two Japan.
Instead, China falls under the wrong side of the shadow of the bat and reminds the world of its real life depravity. Perhaps it would've better served China if they had allowed Bale a brief photo opportunity with Guang-cheng. As it was, a CNN crew accompanied Bale and now the story has world wide play. No doubt CNN knew it would benefit following Bale no matter how the visit turned out. Also, if you are a cynic, you could say Bale orchestrated the whole thing to promote his career as well as shedding further light on Guang-cheng.
But I'm willing to give Bale the benefit of the doubt that his social conscience took precedent over any self promotion. These type of things can easily go very wrong and I think it takes a certain amount of courage just to put yourself out there. Bale could have used a press conference to make a statement about Guang-chen but he chose instead to take the extra step and risk possible harm, incarceration or deportment.
So kudos to Christian Bale for his willingness to hazard this visit. The Press hasn't always been kind to him and some of that has been merited. But on this day things were different. Bale may not be the hero we deserve but he's the hero the world needs right now.
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