Review of John Rabe (2009) by Colin O — 26 Sep 2010

John Rabe was a businessman living in Nanjing in the 1930's. After the Japanese started to attack the province, Rabe along with a number of other foreign businessman took it upon themselves to open up their land for the fleeing Chinese refugees. History is always written by the winners of the battle, and folk hero or not, John Rabe was still a Nazi. This film sets out to be another Schindler's List, but by skipping over Rabe's dubious political allegiance taints its motivations. His Nazi party membership is mentioned, mainly in conversations with the German Jew also in the safe zone, Dr Rosen, but isn't explored enough. Hollywood biopics do this all the time, but i'd have hoped for more from this international production. That said, there is still a good story to be told here, and Rabe and his associates did achieve some good by helping the refugees. Some of the imagery is unsettling, namely the scene where scores of Chinese figuratively and quite literally hide behind the Nazi flag. I hope that actually happened because that's propaganda that would made Leni Riefenstahl proud.

There is a good ensemble cast of international actors, namely Steve Buscemi and Daniel Bruhl, and plenty of good drama, even if it does vilify the Japanese somewhat. If you enjoy WWII films then this is a fairly solid two hours.