Actor Christian Bale has defended his role in a Chinese-language film portraying the 1937 massacre of Chinese by Japan's imperial army in Nanjing.

Critics say the film is nationalistic and anti-Japanese, but Bale says the film is not Chinese propaganda.

"It's far more a movie about human beings and the nature of human beings' responses to crisis," he said.

The film, The Flowers of War, will be released across China on Friday and in the US in late December....