Nanking (2007)

Directed by

Bill Guttentag

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 28m

Rated

R

Rating

7.1 of 10 from 53 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary uses survivor and perpetrator interviews along with archive footage to recount the 1937 Nanjing Massacre. It also follows Western civilians who created a safety zone to protect Chinese citizens.

soberinghistoricaltestimonialgraphicpoignantsolemninformative

What happens

Nanking (Chinese: 南京) is a 2007 documentary film about the Nanjing Massacre, committed in 1937 by the Japanese army in the former capital city Nanjing, China. It was inspired by Iris Chang's book The Rape of Nanking (1997), which discussed the persecution and murder of the Chinese by the Imperial Japanese Army in the then-capital of Nanjing at the outset of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). The film draws on letters and diaries from the era as well as archive footage and interviews with surviving victims and perpetrators of the massacre. Contemporary actors play the roles of the Western missionaries, professors, and businessmen who formed the Nanking Safety Zone to protect the city's civilians from Japanese forces. Particular attention is paid to Nazi Party member John Rabe, a German businessman who organized the Nanking Safety Zone, Robert O. Wilson, a surgeon who remained in Nanjing to care for legions of victims, and Minnie Vautrin, a missionary educator who rendered aid to thousands of Nanjing's women. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Torn Memories of Nanjing (2009)
• White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (2007)
• The Truth about Nanjing (2008)
• In the Name of the Emperor (1998)
• City of Life and Death (2009)
• Dead To Rights (2025)
• Hollywood Chinese (2007)
• Nuremberg: The 60th Anniversary Director's Cut (2007)