Nanking

Over the weekend I watched the film Nanking. Having read the book The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang many years ago, I had been eagerly anticipating the film since I first heard about it. And while it was ok, it really didn't live up to my expectations and I felt a little let down by it.

For those unfamiliar with the story, Nanking was the capital of China in 1937 when the Japanese army invaded and occupied the city and committed some of the worst atrocities you can imagine. The citizens who were unable to flee before the Japanese army marched into the city were at risk of being raped (regardless of age, girls as young as 10 and women as old as 80 were raped), used for bayonet practice, doused with gasoline and lit on fire, and worse. During the occupation, an estimated 20,000 women were raped, and 250,000 non combatant civilians murdered. And those numbers would have been worse if not for the handful of Americans, British, and Germans who set up a safe zone and risked their lives to protect as many people as they could. I don't know why they weren't murdered as well, but had they been, there is a good chance that none of the evidence of the atrocities would have been covered up. And to this day there are people in Japan who deny that these events ever took place.

But getting back to the film, I had expected a documentary, but it was only half documentary. Archival footage and photos were intercut with interviews with survivors, and what I liked least was that second rate actors like Woody Harrelson and Muriel Hemingway were brought in to read diary entries from the men and women who set up the safe zone. They simply sat in chairs in front of a brick wall, emotionlessly reading into the camera. It was quite disappointing and I feel the film would have been much better off with a narrator. And even though I had expected it, I still found it far less comprehensive than the book. A lot was left out. But despite it's shortcomings, it was still a reasonably good film and I do recommend that everyone watch it. It does effectively tell the story, and I personally think it's important that the truth be made known.

If nothing else, I would recommend reading the Wikipedia entry which is pretty thorough despite it's length, or watching the youtube video which is reasonably good quality. Or better yet, purchase the book.