John Rabe (2009)

Prior to watching this file, I have read John Rabe's diary as well as Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking. I have also watched many documentaries and movies made about the subject from China as well as from the US. I found this film to be one of better film on this subject than most of the other ones in existence today.The film is based primarily on the actual diary of John Rabe. Certain details were filled-in by the excellent and exhaustive work of Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking. The importance of John Rabe's diary as opposed to the other accounts of what happened during the massacred is the fact that John Rabe was a German Nazi Party member that was working for Siemen in China. Germany was an allied of Japan at the time and there would have been no reason for John Rabe to have lied about atrocities committed by the Japanese if it did not actually happened. Also since John was mainly writing this as a personal diary for himself, there does not seem to be any reason for him to have exaggerated his description of the event. As a result, his diary is probably the credible historical account of the what actually happened in Nanking.I found some the Chinese version of the film on the subject seemed a little removed from the complex character interactions between most of these reluctant heroes of war. As a result, those movies does not seem quite as genuine and touching as this film.Most the events from this film seems very accurate or at least true to the overall sense of John Rabe's diary. Obviously some of the atrocities had to be consolidated to be able to fit those events into a slightly over two hour film. But one of the most puzzling inaccuracy of the film was the fictional character Valérie Dupres at the International Girls College. Why was it necessary for the film to use a fictional character's name instead of the actual courageous heroine Minnie Vaultrin from the Ginling Girls College. She had done so much during the massacred that it seems unfair to not use her real name in the film. This is my primary reason for not giving this film a perfect 10. If anyone can provide an explanation as to why Minnie Vaultrin name was not used in this film, I really would appreciate it.

An important movie that must be watched. John Rabe was a hero to the Chinese people. He saved 200,000 men, women, and children from certain hardship, probable torture, and likely death. Yet after the war, he was condemned by his country, and lived a life of poverty, slipping into obscurity until his death. There has been too little written about this man. "The Rape of Nanjing" by Iris Chang does cover him in good detail in parts of the book. It's certainly about time for a piece to have been done about his efforts in Nanjing, about his life. The movie is masterfully paced, poignant, and at times devastatingly sad - only able to hint at the atrocities the people of Nanjing must have faced. Yet the movie is ultimately a tribute to the power of few to change the lives of many, to the ultimate goodness of humans.

John Rabe is a person that actually existed and this is a (bit of a) fictionalized version of what he and the people he were trusted on, had to go through. Now this is the German version of that story. There is another side to that coin. And that other side is called "City of Life and Death" and is made from the Chinese perspective. So I guess the truth is somewhere in-between.But this fairly good made and has a strong character (actor) in the midst of it all. The story is really touching and involves a lot of bad things happening. But as written above, you will have sides that you will choose, whom you like and whom you don't. What it does have over the Chinese "version", is a main character you can hold onto.I'd suggest you watch both movies in a double feature to get the whole package.

Before watching this movie, I went to Rabe's house in Nanjing and I read his diary. I was surprised that the movie does not match with the diary. Important parts are missing, and there are even contradictions at some points. For example: according to the diary, Rabe's wife Dora is outside Nanjing before the Japanese invasion starts. In the movie, Dora is still in Nanjing. And when it comes to the date that Rabe leaves Nanjing, there's also a couple of months difference between the diary and the movie. It seems as if the movie producers wanted to 'dramatize' the original story. I don't understand why. Rabe's diary is dramatic enough. My advice is to skip the movie, and read the diary instead.