City of Life and Death (2009)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Admirable film.

A Masterpiece!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

I once lived in Nanking for almost 4 years when I was a university student. There is a John Rabe's house located nearby Nanjing Univercity(Gulou District). Everyone in my university knows the existence of Nanking maccacre in 1937, but that's just a number for us, not a vivid emotional impressions. Our propaganda department taught us to hate Japanese simpily and all the wars between China and Japan was filmed every every year. They simply mixed the Japanese militarism and the general Japanese citizens.From this movie, I can get the truth of that massacre, it's not that simple, in fact, everyone suffers a lot from that war, not only the Chinese victims but also Japnese girls or the soldriers. The war is terrible and cruel, it hurts everyone in it. As I know, from our Chinsee history, during the dynasty changing, a lot of citizens have been killed to consolidate the new born govenment. So that's not only the problem of Janpanese, I think that's the dark side of human being. When there is no constaints to the human beings, the evil will occupy the heart of human beings. I just don't want to see any war between human beings. But I know it's impossible, I just hope everyone can understand that the life and love is very valuable.

As painful as it may be,this movie is perhaps the most devastatingly harrowing portrayal of the Nanking massacre on screen.There have been questions regarding its historical accuracy but of all the movies based on this harrowing topic - "The flowers of war", "Don't cry, Nanking!" and "Man behind the sun", this one touches the most and leaves you spellbound..The atrocities of the incident displayed on screen are shocking and gut wrenching but the finesse with which the battles,rapes, decapitation, mass shootings and burnings as well are choreographed demands appreciation.The dramatic elements are commandingly presented and you cannot but feel and empathize for the victims of the war.The first half is crafted well with battle scenes while the atrocities by the Japanese soldiers is reserved for the second half.The film masterfully depicts the endurance and bravery of Chinese soldiers and prisoners of war and shows how the ruthless acts of the Japanese soldiers fails to deter the spirits of the Chinese people.All the characters in the movie, right from Ye Liu as Lu Jianxiong ,the little boy who survives in the end, Mr Tang,John Rabe,Miss Jiang or Kadokawa give tremendous performances and portray deep emotion.Judging it as a pure cinema purist, this movie is grand and powerful in all respects and the attention to detail is eye-grabbing.An outstanding piece of cinema..highly recommended!

The city is Nanjing, then capital of China. The time is 1937-38 when Japanese forces occupied the place. The story is the horrific consequence of that occupation for Chinese soldiers and civilians alike. The film is dedicated to the 300,000 victims of the atrocity, a figure that is still debated. The executions, the hangings, the beheadings, the burning, the bayoneting, the burying alive, the rapes - all of which happened - are all shown, but not overly dwelt upon. Instead young Lu Chuan, who both wrote and directed, tells a human story, focusing on a limited number of individuals, not all Chinese. This 2009 work was originally shot on colour film and then desaturated into black and white and the cinematography by Yu Cau is very impressive.We are offered politically correct depictions of the bravery of the Chinese soldiers and the nobility of Chinese civilians, especially the women, but the focus on the international safety zone brings to the fore the role of John Rabe, often called the German Schindler, and other nationals. Surprisingly, however, Lu gives an important role to a (fictional) young Japanese officer called Kadokawa who is shown as compassionate and horrified by what his fellow soldiers are doing - a characterisation that understandably proved controversial in China.When I was in Japan, where they talk of the 'Nanjing Incident', at the Memorial Museum in Hiroshima of all places I found that the Japanese are still downplaying the scale of this slaughter. When I was in China, where they call it the 'Nanjing Massacre', not least during my time in Nanjing itself the history was still live and feelings remain raw. I wish that this film could have been seen as much in Japan - which has still not faced up to its wartime crimes in the way that Germany has done - as in China and indeed Europeans and Americans should know more, as they would by viewing the film, about the rape of Nanjing.

Depicting real events, this is an often difficult film to watch. However, it is also the type of film where you don't hit the pause button as you want to know what happens.The Director takes the viewer through a difficult journey, linking each scene effortlessly, and gets the best out of a large cast. Whilst this shows the events in Nanjing in 1938, it could also be telling the story of the horror and dehumanising effect of any war.Shot in monochrome it also presents, on one level the issues in black and white terms, that is, most Chinese good, most Japanese bad. However, at a more complex level the issues are simply not straightforward. It raises questions of when duty must override compassion, and when compassion must override duty. It raises issues about collaboration and integrity, love and sacrifice, and competing belief systems.I have no doubt that similar films could be made about the events at Srebenica in 1995, although the horror of Nanjing was on an almost unprecedented scale. The lessons are there to be learned, and the tragedy of all ages is that our politicians never learn them.I urge you to watch this film and tell others about it.