The Rape of Nanking (Disc 1 Side A). Unit 731, Sex Slaves & Comfort Women, Japanese War Time Atrocities, Hiroshima, and more (Disc 2, Side A). Tiananmen Massacre (Disc 2 Side B).
by Rhawn Joseph
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DVD details
Actor: HirohitoDirector: Rhawn Joseph
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); Chinese (Unknown)
Format: NTSC
Running Time: 177 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-12-03
Studio: BrainMind.com, UniversityPress.info
DVD Reviews of The Rape of Nanking (Disc 1 Side A). Unit 731, Sex Slaves & Comfort Women, Japanese War Time Atrocities, Hiroshima, and more (Disc 2, Side A). Tiananmen Massacre (Disc 2 Side B).
DVD Review: Great footage, but HORRIBLE final product....
Summary: 1 Stars
I hope no one seriously doubts that what happened in Nanking was terrible in the extreme. There were too many survivors and witnesses who have recorded their stories (not to mention the fact that the Japanese themselves documented much of their campaign of destruction and death) to dispute whether or not "bad things" went down. It was horrific, and for most of us, the depth of the depravity exhibited by those soldiers must seem almost surreal.
Unfortunately, there ARE those who want to rewrite history to make it less disturbing, some who choose to quibble over minor statistics or semantics in describing those dark days -- not to mention those in Japan who would dispute that the event took place at all. Believe it or not, it's true -- some people actually suggest nothing happened at all.
Therefore, this story must be told. It MUST be.
Having said that, I must insist that THIS film is not the way to tell it. Really. This film is such an utter bit of propogandist rubbish, that I find myself at a loss for adjectives to describe how bad it is. Well, let's put it this way -- I'm moved to actually write this review, and I almost NEVER review things on Amazon. I'm serious -- this film was that bad.
The production is worse than amateurish -- the person who put it together clearly has almost no experience editing videos. Technically speaking, the "sins" are legion: using the same, gimmicky transitions over and over; the repeated use of the same footage, flipping it horizontally (left to right) to try to make it look like a different scene, or looping it backwards and fowards to make it last longer; showing peaceful scenes of people walking on a bridge, and then cutting abruptly to explosions in a field, absurdly trying to make it look like this was footage of actual bomb attacks; not to mention the constant and childish sound effects which had me grating my teeth in frustration. These are not one-time things I'm talking about -- no, the entire FILM consists of these exact kinds of edits and infantile "tricks"... Surely, all of that is annoying, and reason enough to dismiss this project as pathetically sophomoric and unworthy of wide distribution.
But what really makes me uncomfortable is that this is nothing more than sensational, voyeuristic, anti-Japanese propaganda.
YES, the Japanese (as a culture) need to be made to answer for and deal with their history in war (as do we all). YES, there is an element of Japanese culture which refuses to accept that what happened during the war (and in Nanking) was particularly wrong or even their fault. And YES, there are those in Japan who to this day seem utterly incapable of even beginning to comprehend the scope of the death and destruction that the Japanese Army wrought across China (and the rest of Asia). YES, yes, and yes again.
But THIS film, posing flimsily as some sort of "historical" piece or documentary ("shock-umentary" if you will), merely intends to tell you that "China was an innocent virgin ravaged by a barbaric Japan" -- and by the way, would you like to see some photos of naked, raped women? Or how about some people being stabbed or shot? Anyone up for zooming shots of dead children and babies?
Let me say, it is true that there are some important photos and footage in this film -- and in a similar sense that we need archives of the Holocaust to remember those horrors and thereby educate future generations, these images (both still and movies) need to be preserved and available to all. But to present that material in THIS pitiful film, couched in rhetoric that could have been written by Japan-hating Communist Party apparatchiks in Beijing, does no one any good. Further, it runs the very real risk of adding fuel to the "anti-Japan" fire (actually, the "anti-everyone-but-us" fire) which the Chinese government continues to nurture. I'm talking of the kind of thinking that, today, makes people say that "Japanese are a devil race" -- to give just one example. I wish it were merely laughable, but it's much worse than laughable -- it's ignorant and dangerous.
Look, this is an important topic. History must NOT forget the horrible things that happen in every war. The story of Nanking MUST be told.
But for the love of God, do NOT waste your time or money on this one. If I could give it negative stars, I would.
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