City of Life and Death is a brutal Chinese historical drama, which takes place in 1937 during the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Imperial Japanese Army has just captured the then-capital of the Republic of China, Nanjing. What followed was known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, a period of several weeks wherein tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed.
The film tells the story of several figures, both historical and fictional, including a Chinese soldier, a schoolteacher, a Japanese soldier, a foreign missionary, and John Rabe, a Nazi businessman who would ultimately save thousands of Chinese civilians.
I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
Acclaimed Chinese director Lu Chuan's third film can certainly pose a challenge for an uninitiated audience. The black and white, multilingual, multi-character, retelling of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, where 300,000 Chinese civilians were raped, tortured and murdered by the invading Japanese Army, makes a bold attempt to have an objective view and avoid exploitative violence...and yet even in its sobered presentation, City of Life & Death is not for the weak stomached.
Despite its large cast, the center of the film follows a lone Japanese soldier (played expertly by Hideo Nakaizumi) who witnesses the atrocities and grows disillusioned with the war he fights. Lu Chuan's roaming camera alternates between various threads to paint a broad picture which doesn't try to offer any answers for the Japanese's actions, but contrasts between the brutality of the war crimes and the humanity of the people who commit them. It's safe to suggest that there are stylistic cues lifted from films like Schindler's List, but the overall storytelling is effective and balances engaging drama with some harsh war sequences.
City of Life & Death portrays most of its violence off-screen and subtly implies that the madness that ensued was circumstantial: a display of humans out of control. But given how few people today have even heard of this terrible event, the film reminds us the importance of preserving history and weaves a poignant and powerful drama that will move, disturb and make you think despite the fact it only shows a mere ten percent of the actual horrors that occurred during those six weeks in Nanjing.
By Rajneel Singh, Flicks.co.nz
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 26th Nov 2009.
Release date: November 26th 2009.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
