< Home / interview / Critic / Bio / My articles in Japanese >

Nanking

Written by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

Unlike the Holocaust, the Nanking Massacre is lesser known to Westerners. Even in history classes in Japan, they sadly thumb through the pages. So in this day, why do some of Japanese folk still deny that that horrific event ever happened? Of course, that's something inconceivable to Americans, as well as someone like me who was raised in Japan.

Such doubts had been raised due to questions about the authenticity of the pictures that were used in Chinese papers to create horrible images, most of which were taken from Japanese publications and falsified in the propaganda effort by Chiang Kai-Shek, who fled Nanking several days before its atrocities. Without their commander, many unfortunate Chinese soldiers were stuck in the walled city, not knowing where to escape; instead, they turned into civilians to make a sneak attack on the Japanese soldiers, which depicted the enemy in a crazy and fragile state.

Also, the statistics of the death toll differ in encyclopedias and history scholar's books. What explains such a significant gap? If it was claimed that 200.000 civilians and soldiers died in Nanking, how come the US reporters for the New York Times and Chicago Daily New who came in three days later never mentioned the massacre and the corpses piling up everywhere. The other unclear elements is that the actual population is less than the death toll, which is suspicious because within a month, the population grew more than the death toll. Is it possible, or were most civilians simply just in hiding or were runaways from the city? Would anyone come back to an area that was still occupied by the enemy?

For now, the Japanese intention is to reveal the actual facts first, then come to terms with China. In light of this effort, some Japanese are making a counter movie called "Truth of Nanking." But this effort can be demeaning to those who believe the incident never took place.

The film was hatched by producer Ted Leonsis, former vice chairman of AOL, who came across a obituary of Iris Chang in a newspaper. She wrote the acclaimed book, "The Rape of Nanking,"--and she committed suicide 2005. In 1937, while battling a fierce war in Shanghai, Japan's mind was set on Nanking, the capital of China at that time. Soon the Japanese resumed a heavy air raid all over the city. The quest for grabbing the territory scarred and destroyed countless civilians. The horrific sights are piercing to behold--scenes of mothers stabbed while nursing babies, and of civilians being set on fire. The toll could have been much higher if it weren't for a heroic group of 22 foreigners who stayed and worked in Nanking to create a safety zone to protect the refugees from the disaster in the city. Among them were George Fitch (John Getz), a missionary who smuggled film footage out of China to convince the world to help.

Woody Harrelson is cast as Bob Wilson, a missionary who was the only surgeon remaining in Nanking. Jurgen Prochnow portrays John Robe, a Nazi party member who sheltered 650 Chinese civilians on his estate.Mariel Hemingway potrays the fearless Minnie Vautrin, the head of Nanking's Ginling College, who formed the Safety Zone Committee which maintained the certain area of the city where people could seek refuge. The actors create a real voice of actual characters. Throughout, the film explores the great humanitarian effort in which people risked their own lives as rescuers. In the end, we need to honor and acknowledge those we lost and those we fought regardless of current minor details about the horrendous massacre that we are faced with.

Directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman
Written by Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman and Elisabeth Bentley
Based on a story by Mr. Sturman
Director of photography:Buddy Squires
Edited by Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan and Michael Schweitzer
Music by Philip Marshall
Produced by Ted Leonsis, Mr. Guttentag and Michael Jacobs
Released by ThinkFilm and HBO Documentary Films.
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes.

Cast: Woody Harrelson (Bob Wilson)
Mariel Hemingway (Minnie Vautrin)
Jürgen Prochnow (John Rabe)
John Getz (George Fitch)
Stephen Dorff (Lewis Smythe)
Rosalind Chao (Chang Yu Zheng)
Chris Mulkey (Mills McCallum)
Michelle Krusiec (Yang Shu Ling)
Graham Sibley (Miner Searle Bates)
Hugo Armstrong (John Magee)
Sonny Saito (Sakai Hiroshi), and
Robert Wu (Chinese soldier).