Nanking

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Nanking

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Nanking

Chris Mulkey, Graham Sibley, Hugo Armstrong, John Getz, Mariel Hemingway

"Nanking" is a powerful reminder of the heartbreaking toll that war takes on the innocent and a testament to the courage and conviction of a few individuals determined to act in the face of evil. The ...( read more  read more... )film tells the story of the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China, in the early days of World War II and focuses on the efforts of a small group of unarmed Westerners who established a safety zone where more than 200,000 Chinese found refuge. The events of the film are told through deeply moving interviews with Chinese survivors, archival footage and chilling testimonies of Japanese soldiers, interwoven with staged readings of the Westerners' letters and diaries.

Id: 9913557

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Nanking Recent Reviews
  • wbgoose13
    December 31, 2007
    wbgoose13
    Talking-head format robs actions both harrowing and heroic of their full impact.
  • xmkatx
    December 7, 2008
    xmkatx
    I really liked this doc. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy watching actors read journals from Nanking, but it being interspersed with interview footage of the Chinese survivors and the war footage, really moving. Loved it.
  • rainonjune
    September 1, 2008
    rainonjune
    Invading Japanese army of chinese (1937), raping, murdering... then small group of Western expariates banded together to save, an act of extraordinary heroism. This movie shows the IMPACT INDIVIDUALS can make the COURSE of HISTORY...
  • fullofsakuraflowers
    August 25, 2008
    fullofsakuraflowers
    i know this is gonna hurt me bad. i know i will like it to death. and what's more i think i'm gonna buy the book, too.
  • jfvirey
    August 24, 2008
    jfvirey
    The winner of several awards and dedicated to the memory of Iris Chang, Nanking is an excellent documentary about one of the numerous crimes against humanity committed by either the Axis or Allied powers on the Pacific front : the so-called Rape of Nanking.

    With the presence ...( read more)of so many celebrities on the movie poster, I was not too sure what format this documentary had adopted. Actually, it begins very simply with all the actors gathering in a kind of decrepit studio, having a quick drink, sitting on a row of chairs and within two minutes of the beginning of the film, getting into character and starting to read the testimonies of eyewitnesses to the fall and occupation of Nanking. Western actors play Westerners (mostly Missionaries ; make sure you get their identities straight from the beginning, because they are only presented once) and Chinese and Japanese actors play Asians of their own ethnic group, though their readings are also in English. So the film alternates between talking head shots of these actors, extensive black and white film footage of the events and testimonies of actual survivors and perpetrators, the most horrible of which, in my mind, were those of apparently unrepentant former Japanese soldiers who gleefully reminisce about their gang-rapes and murders, and how married women were much more fun to rape than virgins.

    What I particularly liked about the film was its density. Documentaries usually have a rather deliberate pace, with repetitions and occasional interludes without any new information being presented. In a way, they tend to be "overdidactic" and seem to assume they will not be watched twice. Nanking, on the contrary, is a barrage of extremely well integrated testimonies that never seems to drag or repeat itself, which is probably why it received the Documentary Film Editing Award at Sundance.

    One small caveat I have about the movie is that at the very outset, it states that : "The Japanese, who were allies with Nazi Germany, attacked China in 1937." Now this seems to me to be a rather disingenuous way of introducing the Japanese atrocities, as if they had something to do with Nazi ideology, or with the crimes the Nazi were to commit in the West. Actually, at that time, Nazi Germany had more of a traditional alliance with China, and they had only begun a rapprochement with Japan through the Anti-Comintern Pact, which provided for mutual consultation in case of an attack of either country by the Soviet Union, and contained a secret clause that guaranteed benevolent neutrality should such an attack occur.

    Not until September 1940, three years after the events depicted in the film, did Japan and Germany become actual wartime allies, with the variously called Axis Pact or Tripartite Treaty, which began with the following three articles :
    ARTICLE 1. Japan recognizes and respects the leadership of Germany and Italy in the establishment of a new order in Europe.
    ARTICLE 2. Germany and Italy recognize and respect the leadership of Japan in the establishment of a new order in Greater East Asia.
    ARTICLE 3. Japan, Germany, and Italy agree to cooperate in their efforts on aforesaid lines.

    So people who think the source of all evils in World War II was naziism are in for a lesson. Many crimes against humanity were committed during that war had absolutely nothing to do with the ideology of naziism, such as the estimated two million rapes committed on the Eastern Front by the advancing Russian troops or the deliberate mass bombings of hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians by the Americans and the British.

    Actually, what is fascinating about the film is that one of its heroes, a man who saved thousands of lives and was declared "the Buddha of 100,000 people" by the inhabitants themselves, was no less than a Nazi. Yes: one of the Western saviours portrayed in the film, one of the people who are presented to us as role models is German businessman John Rabe (interpreted by Jurgen Prochnow, whose performance in my opinion was the weakest of the lot), a member of the Nazi party, who wore a Nazi armband, decorated his bomb shelter with a giant Nazi flag, and appealed to Hitler to protect the Chinese population. I guess this should come as a paradigm shift for viewers with a rather simplistic view of history.

    Nanjing is one of the best documentaries I have seen on the Pacific War, with strong performances by Mariel Hemingway, Stephen Dorff, Woody Harrelson and John Getz (though the latter felt less like a missionary than a statesman) and I found it even better than the recent "White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." On the same subject, you might be interested in Raymond To?s 2002 "May and August", which is a rather average melodrama about the Nanking massacre, and I also recommend Kazuo Hara?s fascinating "The Emperor?s Naked Army Marches On", about the atrocities committed by the Japanese troops on the Pacific islands.

    Now what I would like to see is a film of the quality of Nanking, but longer, about the Japanese Comfort Women.
  • ZigM
    August 23, 2008
    ZigM
    Although, the actors portrayals of real people is a little cheesy at times the substance of the film is more than enough to make up for it. A true history lesson for those who only think of the U.S. vs. Japan when they hear about the war in the pacific.
  • yuseu
    August 21, 2008
    yuseu
    very powerful accounts and gripping readings.


    anyone who saw this should also read iris chang's book, "the rape of nanking."

  • cogle3
    July 27, 2008
    cogle3
    Excellent, but so disturbing.
  • synergizer2003
    July 14, 2008
    synergizer2003
    Different than what I expected. The story told was very compelling albeit very gruesome and disturbing at the same time. The essence you walk away with, as intended I think, is that war between nations is awful and should be avoided
  • gregleetz
    May 13, 2008
    gregleetz
    Very interesting and shocking! Good WWII from the Japan/China front!
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