an interesting quote...

'It is often supposed that Ballard's exposure to the atrocities of war at an impressionable age explains the apocalyptic and violent nature of much of his fiction. [4] [5] [6] Martin Amis wrote that Empire of the Sun "gives shape to what shaped him." [7] However, Ballard's own account of the experience is more nuanced: "I don't think you can go through the experience of war without one's perceptions of the world being forever changed. The reassuring stage set that everyday reality in the suburban west presents to us is torn down; you see the ragged scaffolding, and then you see the truth beyond that, and it can be a frightening experience." (Livingstone 1996) But also: "I have—I won't say happy—not unpleasant memories of the camp. [...] I remember a lot of the casual brutality and beatings-up that went on—but at the same we children were playing a hundred and one games all the time!" (Pringle 1982)'
wikipedia

JG Ballard on the memories that formed 'empire of the sun'

I must have watched that film for the first time when I was about 10 or something. Watching it again now was wierd. It has that deeply uncomfortable feel to it. That fear of losing your parents as a child, when the world is a large, impersonal and scary place. Of dealing with stuff noone should have to deal with. How there are different levels of dealing with people, that the back-drop and dominating giant of war, doesn't stop that human interaction. That senseless violence is inflicted, and people don't think about who they're doing it to - depersonalising and dehumanising the victim makes the violence seem less unacceptable.
I babble, but the deeply uncomfortable thing, is that this story is played out, time, and time again, but with different faces, and in different places. People have not learnt.