MamaGravity
good back-story, and good acting
Afouotos
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
FuzzyTagz
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
tomgillespie2002
Without the focus on the heroic efforts of a small group of European and American expatriates, Nanking the film would be a near unbearable experience. The Nanking Massacre, or The Rape of Nanking as it's widely referred to, took place over a 6 week period in 1937. The Chinese capital city was invaded by Japanese troops, resulting in 200,000 (or more depending on varying estimates) innocent people raped and slaughtered. Tales of civilians being forced to have sex with corpses or family members, unborn foetus's being cut out of their mother's belly with bayonet's, or the gang-rape of small girls and boys are all confirmed here. But Nanking achieves its power not through shocking and repulsing but by showing the triumph of the human spirit in the face of hell on Earth.Although plenty of archival footage is used - from the beautiful, pulsating Nanking sitting proudly as China's capital, to it's destruction through heavy bombing - a bulk of the film consists of readings by actors of diary entries written by the likes of Nazi party member John Rabe and American missionary Minnie Vautrin. Rabe and Vautrin were part of a small, wealthy group of men and women who decided against fleeing Naking, and set up a 'Safety Zone' inside the city. The actors, including the likes of Jurgen Prochnow, Mariel Hemingway, Woody Harrelson and Stephen Dorff, are earnest and understated in their delivery, and this helps give these moments an urgency, when it could have come off as trying to add some Hollywood gloss to a devastating event.The Japanese agreed to the implementation of the safety zone, but their soldiers would parade the grounds, raping women at will and dragging men off to be executed on mass for being suspected enemy soldiers. Still, the protection offered by Rabe, Vautrin, Bob Wilson et al is estimated at being responsible for the survival of 200,000 Chinese lives. This is hard stuff to watch, one of the most despicable war crimes ever committed - interviews with Chinese survivors and seemingly remorseless and disconnected Japanese soldiers hit particularly hard - but this is essential viewing, proving that in order to move forward, we must look back.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com
gebased
It is hard to write a review on such a sad tragedy in history. I thought it was a movie, but it was actually a documentary. It was very well made, and the flow of the telling of it was very good. It included actual photos and video of the atrocities that happened, and included interviews with both Chinese victims, telling acts that were done to them or that they saw, as well as Japanese soldiers telling the acts that they performed. Hollywood actors read actual writings of the American and German missionaries that created the Safety Zone for the Chinese, possibly saving 250,000 lives. Although they were Hollywood actors, they obviously got very into the people they were portraying and you watched feeling as though it was the actual person themselves telling their story. Some parts were disturbing and most of it was very heart wrenching. A must see for anyone interested in historical accounts.
wlee08
I won't leave an 'out of ten' for this one because I turned it off after an hour. Not to downplay what happened to the citizens of Nanking but sometimes you just have to ask yourself 'Why am I watching this?'. I rented this one cause it said 'based on the incredible true story...westerners unite to save thousands of innocent civilians from the atrocities of war' or something like that. So I was expecting some feel-good re-enactment of history, something akin to Schindlers List. But after watching for about an hour, listening to the REAL people describing some of the most gruesome acts of atrocity committed to their loved ones before their very eyes, I began to realize that this movie was not for me. Yes, all this happened, and yes, we must Never Forget, but at the same time I believe you can make an argument against using horrific anecdotes to teach history. For the people who lived through this I don't believe there is any story of redemption, no rhyme or reason, no heroic deliverance. Yes, good people stood up and saved lives and that should have been the focus of this documentary, not the unspeakable brutality.
elskootero-1
I've been studying Japanese and Russian War atrocities for more than 30 years and STILL wonder why Hitler and the Nazis get 99% of the "holocaust" rap. Most people don't know of the rape of Nanking and countless other acts of Jap barbarism, like the fact that the Japanese were DIRECTLY responsible for over 14 million deaths NOT due to war combat, and the Russians, under DIRECT orders from Stalin, killed more than 16 million. Yet all you ever seem to hear is the 6 million Jews that the Nazis killed. YES YES YES, the holocaust was an obscene tragedy of the worst kind, but why don't we rap the Japs for their 14 million victims-after all, the world leaned on us for herding the Japs living in the US into internment camps during the war and then waiting 35 some years to repay them a part of what they lost; but what reparations have the Japanese made to the world for THEIR atrocities? THEY HAVEN'T EVEN ADMITTED IT TO THEIR OWN PEOPLE!! Japanese world history goes up to 1940,then skips to 1946 and continues to the present day!?!?!? This movie is a MUST-SEE! It is accurate, factual, and chilling! Go see it! And Iris Chang, may you rest in eternal peace, dear lady!
