Here, I will simply "list" the movies on the subject of the Nanjing Massacre for comparison and reference. The following original text was originally published in Nandu Weekly
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Looking back at the film on the subject of the Nanjing Massacre, we can draw such a rule Trends: Documentaries go first, and feature films of various styles follow. For news events and major histories, documentaries always try to be objective or warn the world to intervene first to form the most direct perspective with the audience; for feature films, based on their commercial needs, select documentary materials and enlarge them in the form of performance. , To form a sentimental atmosphere unrelated to their experience in the audience, of course, in front of the Nanjing Massacre subject matter, it is out of time to talk about commercial intentions. This transfer relationship from record to plot has the following empirical evidence:
In 1982, the new film studio documentary "Nanjing Massacre" used inventory of detailed information, integrated editing, and threw out the Japanese army’s slaughter of more than 300,000 compatriots. fact. In 1987, on the 50th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, the Mainland and Taiwan launched the Blood Testimony of the Massacre and the Flag Is Floating. Chen Daoming, Lei Kesheng, Gui Yalei, and Lin Qingxia respectively played the big and small figures in this period of history, with fictions. For example, doctors, photographers and northeastern girls, as well as real ones such as spy Yoshiko Kawashima and abandoned city officer Tang Shengzhi, all follow the urgent narrative method of thriller films. In 1995, the 50th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Wu Ziniu completed "Nanjing 1937". Qin Han, Zao Yiyuan, and Liu Ruoying wonderfully "expressed" a strong personal courage of the dark age. In the same year, the second "Black Sun Nanjing Massacre" by Hong Kong director Mou Dunfu's "Black Sun Series" was released in the Mainland as a patriotic educational film. This film was horrified in Hong Kong due to its extremely bloody and terrifying images. Classified as a three-level film.
Since 1987, an old Japanese man has frequently entered the domestic news. He was once a soldier in the 16th Division of the Japanese Army, participated in the Nanjing Massacre, and insisted on apologizing and testifying in his later years. His personal behavior not only angered the right-wing forces in Japan, but also caused filmmakers in other countries to pay attention to the massacre. In 2002, Lu Dalu, an American who specializes in making historical documentaries, made the documentary "Nanjing Massacre" that took many years. In the film, he interviewed Toshiro and the Chinese and Japanese aesthetics who studied this period of history. For the first time, many sources were revealed. Precious video material of the missionary John Magee. In 2002, Ye Tong starred in "May and August", but was tainted by low-level posters such as "a film exposing the rape and murder of Chinese women for the first time." "Qixia Temple 1937", a small-cost movie without any famous director, was released in the praise of religious circles.
In 2007, on the 70th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, three documentaries expressing the position of a third party appeared one after another. They were "Nanjing," which was highly regarded by mainland cinemas, "Zhang Chunru," which appeared in a few documentary events, and the unfortunately submerged "Nanjing". "Nanjing Nightmare" (the film's director Joseph has been complaining that there is a market operation conspiracy). These documentaries have all jumped out of the logical dead end of human behavior that has been caught in the discussion of the massacre problem for a long time, and restored the bearers of grief to the few broken individuals who survived; they also avoided victims like China. The clarity that may be affected by anger when presenting history. They allow the audience to leave the cold figures for the time being, and re-examine the life individuals who have also been alive, and even realize that the Holocaust has also created other indirect victims, such as Vautrin who witnessed the atrocities and cannot be in the process of recounting. My own Zhang Chunru.
There were too many "neutral narrations" from the third party, and it was taken in by Hollywood. In 2009, a "John Rabe" with all the epic film structure appeared. He pulled off the huge Nazi party flag and turned him as pitiful as a chicken. Chinese refugees squeezed in and escaped the bombing, and such contradictory dramatic scenes abound in this "Hollywood production". It's a pity that we are not bystanders of "Schindler's List", but people with painful national memories, it is difficult to accept such "exciting and beautiful" stories. As a result, Lu Chuan, who has been declining his invention, brought his own belief and attitude, and many celebrities to support the Chinese people's own way of telling the story of the massacre "Nanjing! Nanjing! "But the most breakthrough attempt of this film (filmed from the perspective of the Japanese army) has turned out to be the biggest problem-the emotional logic of the narrative is difficult to express, and it can only rely on a formal sense of religious ritual.
How do movies remember the Nanjing Massacre? In the face of national pain, frivolity and commercial ambition are obviously not enough.
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