Review of City of Life and Death (2009) by Maksim B — 22 Jan 2012

Almost unbearable to watch, City of Life and Death is a ruthless depiction of war, violence, moral and physical destruction which only shows how violent, bloody and inhuman we could be in times of war. Extremely realistic, this Chinese war-drama is a way too long and far from being entertaining movie. A drama too hard to chew for many.

The more than two hours war drama depicts the days after the fall of the old-Chinese capital Nanjing and the following massacre executed by the Japanese invaders. More a documentary than a movie, City of Life and Death is shocking, hopeless and brutal depiction of the most sadistic face of war. No matter that it shows the Chinese-Japanese conflict at its ugliest, this movie should be perceived as a broader call against the massacres and crimes of war. This movie is a call for humanity; humanity above all.

The focus on those disastrous for humanity events is so strong, that at one point director Lu Chuan fails to develop in a more emotional manner the two sides of the story. The one of the civilian trying to help as many people as possible, and the one of the Japanese soldier not being able to morally cope with what he was seeing. This mistaken focus results in the feeling that two hours of portraying war massacres instead on focusing on the two characters of Kadokawa and Lu Jianxions, is way too long.

City of Life of Death is not a movie for everyone. It is too demanding, too brutal and if one is not ready for it may not find anything rewarding in seeing it.