New pics of Christian Bale in The Flowers Of War

A new set of images have arrived online for Chinese period drama The Flowers Of War , with Christian Bale decked out as a man of the cloth in wartime China.

Bale stars as a Jesuit priest who takes refuge in a Chinese cathedral when the invading Imperial Japanese army makes an advance on the city of Nanking.

Directed by Hero ’s Zhang Yimou, the film is the most expensive production in China’s history and has been given the honour of becoming the country’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2012 Oscars.

The film will open in China on 16 December 2011, with a Western release pencilled in for next year. Check out the official images below, with Bale looking positively messianic as a man of God…