I'm pretty excited by these films. I lived in Nanjing for the best part of a year, so I became pretty aware of the rape of Nanjing, and what kind of tensions it brings up in both Japanese and Chinese people. I'll sum it up briefly for those who don't know about it: To cut a long story short, in 1937, Japan (invading China) took Nanjing and carried out the massacre of 100's of thousands of civilians and the rape of many women. Many Chinese argue the figures were higher than most say, many Japanese say lower, or even deny it happened at all. The fact is the general consensus amongst impartial (by that I mean not Japanese or Chinese) historians, is that a good 250,000 civilians were murdered.

To mark the 70th anniversary a number of films were commissioned, the most notable two being 'John Rabe' and 'Nanking, Nanking'.

John Rabe - Is the story of the Schindler of Nanjing. A Nazi who set up a safety zone for Chinese civilians to protect them from Japanese soldiers. It's a German produced film with a cast including Steve Buscemi (who speaks german apparently). Here's a trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoD7lSbd-w

Nanking, Nanking - This is a big budget Chinese produced film seemingly of a Schindler's-List-style all out horrific black and white portrayal of the events. Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSbw4jirbz4&feature=related


I'm really quite excited by both films and kinda bemused by the lack of coverage of them anywhere. I had to go out of my way to find anything. Still they should both be coming out this year, and I thought they were worth flagging.

PS. If anyone out there reading this is Japanese and takes offence or denies the Rape of Nanjing, I'm sorry. However, as far as I can see there's no real denial story to be heard and at least I'd rather this didn't turn into one of those threads of accusation and counter-accusation that fill the internet. Start another thread over in Activism if you want, I might even join in, but this is a film thread.

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