Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a Chinese - Hong Kong - American
historical sports drama film called, On Wings of Eagles. Spoilers ahead. Watch out and take care.
The movie starts with news from the 1984 Paris Olympics. It was a history,
indeed. According to the narrator, the Scottish gold medalist in a 400-meter sprint, Eric Liddell,
was offered a dream with multiple scholarship offers. He joined the London Missionary Society
and then moved to China with his beloved wife, Florence Mackenzie. Based on Liddell, he responded
“no” to the offers because giving hope and inspiration can provide all the riches he needs.
After the little biography, a narrator comes saying there will always be a way to help make you
a worthy person and that luck came to him years ago when he met a flying Scotsman, Eric Liddell.
About nine years ago, the world had known about him when he refused to join the 400-meter race
scheduled on a Sunday, which was the time he cherished as he saw his family again.
Playing with kids, he became known as the man who stood up for his principles.
After he completed his education, he returned to China to teach English, chemistry, and athletics.
In Tientsin, 1937 of July, Japan invades China which sums up to second Sino-Japanese War.
This is where their happiness became great misery to the people. The Japanese
soldiers are all over the place around China. One fine day, a place is secured by all the
Chinese soldier; two friends, a Chinese and a Scottish man, comes with a truck.
The soldiers don’t want them to go through but the Chinese give him money so they let them enter.
He is Xi Niu; Professor Liddell paid him to drive him to teach the poor children in the schools
there. He is teaching basic English in class when suddenly, explosions can be heard from somewhere.
A kid comes running on the way to the room; the teacher sees it and hurriedly comes on
the kid’s way but it’s too late. The kid gets stroked real hard by the falling bomb.
Xi Niu saves the professor by lying on the land to avoid further explosions.
To find peace, the teacher comes running as that’s also his passion, Xi Niu runs with him as well.
In a British consulate, Eric was being told that his wife will be mad at him; and his
children are people too. He defends that they are young and Florence will be there for them.
Bombs are now falling all over the place as Japan continues to invade China.
At their house, his kids are scared of endless explosions. To calm them, they sing a worship
song together. Eric calls his pregnant wife and embraces her as he states that he promised to
help the Xiaozhang hospital which is badly in need. He hugs and kisses his wife dearly.
The day has come when he’ll go back to China so Xu fetches him together with Eric’s family
who’ll bid him goodbye. The wife tells Xu to take good care of Eric and he likewise agrees.
Although Eric has applied for a furlough from the missionary society, allowing him to travel with
his family, it has not yet been approved. They arrive at the port and Eric hugs his
dear family saying they will all be together again soon. The daughters
say goodbye again and the boat sails. The Japanese soldiers come invading his home
but Eric did nothing but pray for his enemies. The narrator states that he was forced to leave his
home and seek shelter with other refugees at the school. While in the grief of missing his family,
Xu gives him nice shoes, and he thanks him. Eric plays with the kids very well; runs every
day not just for himself, but for the people. He sees a poor child seating on the side street
and he helps him run with them. Eric now teaches chemistry together with him as his assistant.
The kid grows very fond of him as he also delivers his family’s letters. Their baby
has now been born and she is healthy as ever. As Eric was born in China, he raises his glass
with his friends. The kid is very lovable to him so Xu adopted him to have a home.
His brother needs medical supplies so he offers his watch to Xu. However, he cannot accept it
as it was given by Eric’s father; the medicine is listed very long so he accepts it in the meantime.
They are now smuggling the medicines needed and then arrive at the checkpoint of the strictest
Japanese soldiers. Eric handles the situation very well and surpasses the secured checkpoint.
As months passed, Eric and Xu encountered many close calls with the soldiers.
With Eric’s faith and Xu’s connection in the underground, they passed all of them.
They arrive at the Xiaozhang hospital and deliver the medicine. The kid also helps them along the
way and even plays with them together. Unfortunately, Pearl Harbor is attacked
and the war is just getting started. A wedding is happening inside the church where Eric is leading
when all of a sudden, the Japanese soldiers crush the church. Eric tells them to respect
the house of God but the captain only replies that they are at war and then steals the rings.
The kid comes running with the news so Xu hurriedly rides his bike.
However, the kid falls and ended up getting wounds all over his body.
In an internment camp in Weihsein, the train full of foreigners gets stopped by the soldiers.
They inspect them by getting off their piece of clothing. His brother gets passed while the couple
Eric officiated is not able to stay together. The two get separated as the captain doesn’t want to
believe that they are newlyweds because there were no rings that he stole. Eric interrupts
it by stating a bible verse and it only infuriates the captain as he shouts that their emperor is the
only god. Eric then states that they do not serve false gods which angers the captain even more.
The dormitory full of prisoned foreigners is separated between men and women.
Eric together with his brother and friends gets along with other people.
Xiao, the kid, is being scolded by Xu for wasting food; he cries and then gets hugged by his father.
One day, soldiers come knocking on their dorm asking who Eric Liddell is.
They offer a nice room as their leader wants a race with him.
He asks for them to be released but he gives him no choice; the commander gives him sprinter shoes.
The soldiers also offer a nice meal for him to get trained for the upcoming race.
On the other hand, Xu and his son find Eric in the prison, there is a big border between them;
he leaves a bag in a covered area. That same night, Eric gets it and then goes into the dorm;
it’s a bag full of food that he shared with his fellow dormmates.
Some of the inmates help the newlyweds to find each other. When they did, they share an
intimate moment as they have missed each other; he gives her a ring. The next day, the soldiers
find them sleeping and they quickly surrender. Eric happily teaches the children and when the
soldiers aren’t watching, he shares his food with them. A kite crosses the border and a kid comes to
get it but Eric stops them as the borderline has electricity which sooner burns the kite.
The race has come to its start and all the people are shouting Eric’s name. He opens
the rest with him as the leading winner but the Japanese cheats which the people notice as well.
Although they won, the people know it was not fair and one of them shouts and fights.
They punish the man as well as Eric by putting them underground for starvation.
It rains and the water comes to them as well; they are bathing in their own blood.
One night, Xu finds his way to Eric’s underground despite the danger. He gives him food and drink
as well as David. Xu gives Eric’s beloved watch and says he needs to get out of there because
he gives the people hope. He then thanked him. The next day, they are now released and getting
bathed with flour and water. They come back to the dorm feeling helpless while the people clap
for them as they fight for what they deserve. His brother asks about him but he just says he’s okay.
As the foreign prisoners and Chinese have boundaries, they only meet in the laundry area.
Xu tells Eric about the Japanese losing the war and he made a deal with them regarding the food.
At the borderline, 10 PM sharp, the soldiers he made a deal with, turn off the voltage of
the barrier so the kid can climb there and give the prisoners the food they deserve;
they also give the guards some snacks. Afterward, the captain kind of suspects the
guards because they catch their food and liquors. While making a lesson plan, Eric finds himself
bleeding through his nose. He is teaching the kids when all of a sudden, his nose bleeds again
and he releases his anger with his student. He goes to his room, crying and feeling helpless.
One day, David is found whiffing a cigarette so the soldiers punish and lock him.
Xu is dragged by him while working and he begs to let him out, covered in blood. Xu
thinks deeply together with his fellows. As he is working in feces transport,
he helps David by dumping himself, locked in manure. They manage to get him out by having
kites in the voltage barricade so it created a fire that distracts the soldiers and guards.
They fight the fuming fire while the father-and-son help David escape.
The next day, the Japanese captain urges a meeting for the people.
He is in rage asking everyone who helped David escape. They think it’s Hugh so they catch him;
Eric speaks up then the captain states that everyone will get punished until he gets a name.
Meanwhile, according to the narrator, David got out of prison and decided to join the underground
resistance forces to receive and translate news about Japan’s increasing struggles to win the war.
On the other hand, Hugh gets locked underground to starve while other people are getting tortured
with different techniques. With Eric feeling bad lately,
his brother checks upon him. Suddenly, Hugh gets delivered to the dorm so the doctor comes to him.
Eric and his brother check him up which concluded that he may have a lung disease;
they need medicine for him to be fine. The next day, Eric comes to the guard and
major to ask for medicine for Hugh then they reply that they have no medicine and food.
However, Eric replies that they shall turn a blind eye again and let the supplies be smuggled in;
the major angrily replies that there has been no smuggling in their camp.
Eric didn’t surrender so he asks the major to race him again and if he wins,
they’ll bring what they need. At the Japanese soldiers’ camp,
they are discussing what they should do about Eric’s request. They have agreed
and tell him that they’ll race on a Sunday. With this, Eric practices very hard every
single day with the help of his students. He is still feeling not well and is indeed sick; his
right eye is feeling sore deep inside. However, he did not stop working out for the upcoming race.
He also finds joy and laughter as he trains together with the children. His brother visits
him saying that the whole camp pitched in to make sure he has strength for the race.
Despite the brother saying he shouldn’t have initiated the race; Eric believes
with the people giving something they’ll pray for, to restore faith and humanity.
The race is about to start and so are people lining up, but the soldiers didn’t permit them
to watch so all of them just stay in their dormitory. Eric is having a huge migraine
but he still shows up, barefooted. The people at the dorm calm themselves and sing a prayer.
As the race begins, Eric comes first and leads. Although he nearly stumbles, he still
manages to finish the race as the champion. The people celebrate his win as well as him crying.
While waiting for the medicines, Catherine visits Hugh to comfort him and tell him that they are
having a baby. The smuggling is now ready as well as the kid to cross the borderline.
However, the leader finds out about the guards turning off the voltage and he gets fuming mad.
He fights his soldiers so, a guard sneaks in and tells the prisoners about it.
The people come running to save Xiao and tell him to get down. The soldiers keep on fighting
regarding turning on the voltage again but the leader wins. When Xiao is in the highest
borderline, the electricity turns on which led him to death. People cry and scream as the
little kid lost his life saving the prisoners. The captain warns everyone and they continue mourning.
Meanwhile, Xu, the narrator, states that he and his wife stayed all night on the fence about
their loss of a son. Other prisoners are losing hope from what is happening such as the Italian
father and daughter who comforts each other. That night, the foreigners and prisoners go
outside to still mourn and the guard who warned them was placed in the hole. Everyone was grateful
for his kindness and courage. Together, they sing a song for their heroes, especially Xiao the kid.
On the other hand, High is still sick and stuck in bed.
The doctor is also losing hope together with his brother. Eric comes to the female dormitories,
feeling helpless; he reveals his bald self to the people and they all pity him.
Eric tries to write a letter to his wife and family; his brother helps him because
he’s getting tired. He states that he should be home for Christmas but he permitted Catherine
who’s pregnant and widowed and so he prays. Together with the prisoners, they all sing
and Eric leads the piano filled with candles. He presses the keys as his students come near him.
Eric gently plays the keyboard even if his blood is pouring all over it.
Not long after, the people are singing without him, he is dead, his wife and his children are
in tears together with his friends who look up to him. They hold a funeral for Eric while Xu and his
wife mourn in the borders. His student gives Eric’s watch to him and he cries really hard.
Xu, the narrator, states that Eric’s unwavering faith had cracked the coldness of his soul.
After a few months, Japan unconditionally surrenders and all the people scream in joy
as the war is now over. The wonderful kites with wings fly across the sky with Eric’s saying,
“They break free on their wings like eagles. They will run and not tire.”
Xu says that his greatest gift from Eric besides
making himself feel worthy is the gift of hope for everyone.
The movie ends with the statement “Eric Liddell died of a brain tumor 5 months before the
Japanese surrender and Weihsein Internment Camp was liberated on August 17, 1945.”