Review of City of Life and Death (2009) by Daniel R — 09 Oct 2011

A very grim story of the mass executions and rapes in the city of Nanking by the Japanese army. The story is told w/ little dialogue. The action carries the story forward. There are several parallel and sequential stories of individuals caught up in the massacre. The story is told from point-of-view of both individual Chinese characters and Japanese soldiers. We see some glimpses of humanity amongst all of the over-powering atrocities. At 2 hrs, this movie was a little hard to take. And, yet, seeing this film on the heels of the documentary, NANKING (2007); there is a valuable Chinese/Asian perspective shown. The movie was shot in black and white. It gives the movie a documentary feel. I was surprised to learn that the film was made so recently.

A few battle scenes are thrown in as the city finally falls. These have a very realistic feel to them.

This is a Chinese film. Some scenes were edited out by Chinese censors. The Chinese director reportedly received some strong negative reaction from the Chinese public. One character is a morally conflicted Japanese soldier who witnesses the carnage unfold w/ increasing discomfort. The director based this character upon letters, journals, and other war documents from Japanese soldiers. A wealthy Chinese man traveled thru Japan collecting these bits of history to preserve them.

The attempt to be even-handed reminds me of Clint Eastwoods 2 films abt the battle for Iwo Jima. They are FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, told from the American soldiers point-of-view; and LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, told from the Japanese soldiers point-of-view.

Luckily for the viewer, there are a few elements of humanity to relieve the on-going beat-down of the story. But, still, this is largely a story of mans inhumanity to man. It is a 2 hr story of death and destruction. Its not 4 the faint of heart.

I would suggest also seeing the documentary, NANKING (2007) to give further context to this story. I think it is a good idea to be knowledgeable of both the good and the bad of history. The more people are aware of the evil done in the past; the less likely they are to repeat it going forward. And, it is similarly wise to know something abt who did what right/correctly in the past; so we can try to emulate them.