City of Life and Death (2009)

I once lived in Nanking for almost 4 years when I was a university student. There is a John Rabe's house located nearby Nanjing Univercity(Gulou District). Everyone in my university knows the existence of Nanking maccacre in 1937, but that's just a number for us, not a vivid emotional impressions. Our propaganda department taught us to hate Japanese simpily and all the wars between China and Japan was filmed every every year. They simply mixed the Japanese militarism and the general Japanese citizens.From this movie, I can get the truth of that massacre, it's not that simple, in fact, everyone suffers a lot from that war, not only the Chinese victims but also Japnese girls or the soldriers. The war is terrible and cruel, it hurts everyone in it. As I know, from our Chinsee history, during the dynasty changing, a lot of citizens have been killed to consolidate the new born govenment. So that's not only the problem of Janpanese, I think that's the dark side of human being. When there is no constaints to the human beings, the evil will occupy the heart of human beings. I just don't want to see any war between human beings. But I know it's impossible, I just hope everyone can understand that the life and love is very valuable.

I am a dedicated fan of good war films, and have a substantial proportion of the greats in my own personal collection; so it is with some experience of the genre that I say that Chuan Lu's film is an absolutely outstanding cinematic masterpiece. This is an awesome achievement which stands head and shoulders above so much of the competition. Brilliantly written, brilliantly directed, topical and yet also historically authentic, it brings some fantastic talent to the screen who all give uniformly superb performances. The film is shot in black and white, which gives it a gritty, unsparing authenticity, and the cinematography is masterful and evocative. Every shot looks like a period photograph. The battle scenes are realistic, well choreographed, and technically accurate. And the music is haunting, contributing to the film at every level, and building to a heartbreaking climax. This is without doubt one of the best films I have ever seen, but it is also not for the faint of heart. The sheer squalor, horror, brutality and inhumanity of war is not shied away from, nor is the audience ever spared. Expect to come away from watching it emotionally drained.

Astounding film. I'm still haunted by the masterful way the unblinking atrocities and the study of the human condition exist side by side in this film. It's not for the faint of heart, but for those who can make their way through the horror,there's much to take away from this film. Each character followed in this story fills a purpose. The opening is the actual occupation of Nanking, and it's just as unrelenting as Saving Private Ryan's D-Day sequence. Little dialogue, just war. The rest of the film chronicles the atrocities as it focuses on individuals. There are scenes in this film that I will take with me forever, like the best of films give you.

Having just recently subjected myself to the almost documentary-like horrors of the Russian film COME AND SEE (about as sobering an experience as can be had), I opted to push my luck and try CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH. I've seen a number of documentaries regarding Japan's invasion of China, so I knew what to expect (although I DIDN'T expect the opening scenes, which harked back to the gritty, hand-held carnage of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN). In fact, CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH is actually more than a little forgiving in some of its depictions: characters who may or may not have been as sympathetic to the "lesser beings" are given the benefit of the doubt (no doubt by way of presenting a more "balanced" view of rape and wholesale slaughter). (Note: in one documentary I saw, a recaptured prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp was hung for all to see and a note was pinned to his chest: "I'm back," it read. And you thought the Nazis had no sense of humor...)