writing The memory carried by the form, a story about rescue that has been forgotten in the corner of history: in 1937, when the Japanese invaders captured Nanjing, the Hamburg businessman Johann Lara, who was the representative of Germany's Siemens in China and the head of the Nazi Party in China. Bei, witnessed the inhumane massacre by the Japanese army after entering Nanjing. Disregarding the order to return him immediately, he joined a dozen foreign missionaries, doctors, businessmen, etc. to jointly establish the "Nanjing International Safety Zone", saving about 250,000 Chinese civilians. The reason why this history has been treated in a low-key manner by the officials of various countries is that Rabe is a Nazi, and he represents the alliance of the Axis powers with Japan in World War II; the second is that Nanjing is the capital of the National Government, which Rabe accepted. He has won the medal of the National Government; and he even dared to point the responsibility of the war to the Japanese imperial family. In fact, after this Rabe returned to Germany, he was silenced by the Nazis, his diary and other archives were sealed, and after the end of the Nazi era, he was imprisoned again for being a Nazi, in a bleak situation, and later pulled down by the logic of the Cold War. No one wants to mention Bey's story; to re-emphasize Rabe's rescue story in the form of a film today has the intention of breaking the Cold War mentality.
With this intention, Rabe is portrayed as a complex and ambiguous figure, prominently displayed in the film's presentation of Mr. Rabe's Nazi beliefs. Rabe was a member of the Nazi Party and a representative of German industry. He was the representative of Siemens at the time in Nanjing, which in addition to handling the telephone business was also responsible for generating electricity in Jiangsu's province of 15 million people -- "a big business" -- and lived in China for 27 years. Rabe in 2009 learned the pragmatic attitude of the Chinese. He doesn't mind using the club shared with the British as the Nazi party headquarters. The portrait of Hitler and the portrait of the British king can alternate here. People who come to participate in "party activities" come here to enjoy their friends and eat bagels, away from the hustle and bustle of the European battlefield. Mr. Rabe, who came to China in 1910, was pure loyalty to the Nazi Party. Under this simple belief, he believed that a tower could not be built to fly a huge national flag; under the same belief, he firmly believed that Hitler, the Führer, would intervene when the Japanese slaughtered the city. So, can people of different faiths be partners? Rabe apparently believed it was possible, and after singing a ballad teasing the Führer with doctor Robert Wilson, Rabe expressed his desire to be a partner with the anti-fascist doctor who shared his troubles. Of course he was ill-fated, because to the American Wilsonians, faith was a gulf between them. Even when talking about the Japanese attack on Nanjing City, Rabe, as an ally, also expressed his desire to "hope the Japanese can capture this city"; however, supporting Japan's aggression does not mean supporting the Japanese army's slaughter of prisoners of war and civilians.
In the movie, Rabe not only has "discretionary considerations" in his beliefs, but also shows complexity in his attitude towards the Chinese. He has complained about some of the impolite behavior of driver Zhang (entering the room without knocking on the door), which he considers a "Chinese vice". He knows the Chinese people and said, "A place that can accommodate 100,000 people can accommodate 200,000 Chinese." When it comes to Siemens' power supply capability covering the entire Jiangsu Province, he is also a "promoter of civilization".
What made Rabe embark on the road of rescue without hesitation? As sung in the song when the students of Jinling Girls' School bid farewell to Rabe, he is a "Jolly good fellow" (jolly good fellow), without doctrine, politics, or ethnic prejudice. Rabe just chose to be a What a simple man is bound to do: save lives. From opening the factory during the air raid for people to take refuge, to sending his wife away to be the chairman of the Nanjing International Security Zone Committee, negotiating with the Japanese for food, redeeming the names of 20 people from the knife of the "Hundred People" competition, until He donated all his property to die, giving his life to the last resistance to the Japanese attempt to clear the safe zone.
Rabe's only hesitation is "Want to help but mess things up, or don't intervene at all?" In the content of the film, his heroic deeds are like the curse that was placed on him. What Rabe experienced was the burden of having life and death in hand. As an ordinary person, he is not a Bodhisattva (God) and cannot decide the life or death of a person. In order to remain neutral in the war, the prisoners of war must be handed over to save the lives of more than 200,000 other people in the safe zone. However, handing over the prisoners of war means letting these people die. Rabe continued his real name of rescue despite all kinds of struggles.
As long as characters are not living in a vacuum (and free from the kidnappings of Cold War thinking), complexity and ambiguity are unavoidable. Any depiction of complexity must be done with caution, not to mention that some of the Rabe Diaries viewers are overly nationalistic. However, the reason why Chinese people will not be disgusted when they see the image of this person wearing a swastika to protect the Chinese on the screen today is that Germany's recognition of war crimes and the reckoning of Nazi atrocities. Although it is also a work that has changed according to history, "Nanjing Nanjing", which was released at the same time, chose to focus on a Japanese soldier in the complex discussion of human nature. It has neither the support of historical materials nor the foreshadowing of narrative. The "human nature" that came out of thin air complex" is deactivated. "Rabe's Diary" is a more delicate and credible depiction of a Japanese officer who is entangled in the cruelty of war: although there is not necessarily a Japanese major in the real historical records who really notified the head of the safe zone. The Japanese army broke through The plan of the safe zone, however, "Rabe's Diary" has the courage to point out the responsibility of the Japanese imperial family for the Nanjing Massacre/war in the film (it can't be verified whether it is the first one), and clearly points out the storm in the film The orders for Nanjing and the slaughter of prisoners of war were personally given by Prince Asaka Miyahiko, who in the film also implies that some of the decisions came directly from the Japanese emperor (that is, his nephew). In such a story setting, it is convincing to tell a young officer's incomprehension of this series of cruel practices.
Sub-heading 2: How the Theory of Human Nature does not fall into emptiness and luxury
A country's war-themed movies can better demonstrate mainstream culture and ideology than other movies. The themes of war movies are basically trying to sublimate and question how a nation views a specific conflict. Although "The Diary of Rabe" has gathered the production power and funds of China, the main intention of the director Gallenberger is to reproduce the group portraits of Western humanitarians in the Nanjing Safety Zone. These people, and the two sides participating in the war, belonged to different camps in World War II. Therefore, its attitude and historical view are undoubtedly the most important factors in order for the film to recognize it. On this point, "Rabe Diaries" is understandable. been recognized. As for the inability to be screened in Japan, it has a lot to do with the legacy of World War II and the fact that the imperial family was not held accountable for the war (refer to the case of "The Yasukuni Shrine" being blocked in Japan in 2007). In recent years, there are many films designed with the theme of German World War II, such as "Goodbye Lenin", "Eavesdropping Storm", and this year's "Rabe Diary", which jumped out of the Cold War thinking and reconstructed the German identity with personal history.
The various expectations of Chinese audiences revisiting the history of the Nanjing Massacre is a regret that "Rabe Diary" cannot make up for. Although "Rabe Diary" is a Sino-German co-production film in production, the film is still From a German perspective.
Although it involves the Nanjing Massacre, the main purpose of the film is to tell the story of human nature in the war, and the massacre is only a scene film. Questioning and complaining about war and brutal massacres can only be done by the Chinese themselves. Many Chinese audiences have focused their attention on "Nanjing Nanjing", so Chinese-made films like "Nanjing Nanjing" have no chance of being mediocre in the current social environment.
The Nanjing Massacre is a content that the Chinese cannot easily "joke about" for the time being, but requires the author to restore the history very religiously, show the problem, and achieve the so-called "political correctness". The so-called "political correctness" is related to everyone's attempt to use the past to describe the present. Time, national identity, and political stance cause this judgment to be limited. Then in this "limited context", there are at least two points in the story of Nanjing in 1937 told by the Chinese: First, this is a humanitarian disaster, and the Japanese government has not yet Appropriate apology behavior and attitude. In 1937, the Japanese army entered the capital of another country, slaughtered civilians and prisoners of war in violation of the Geneva Convention, and six figures of Chinese were killed by the Japanese army's butcher's knife; second - when we discuss this historical event, we have to Said - the Nanjing Massacre is a national shame for the Chinese!
Therefore, Lu Chuan repeatedly emphasized that "I am telling the history of resistance of human nature", which avoided the right and wrong views that people should have in the face of history, and pushed the heavy issue of "human nature" to emptiness and luxury. If the so-called "resistance" refers to the resistance of the Chinese people, it is a bit too absurd as the theme of the film. The reason why the Nanjing Massacre is a national humiliation is precisely because of non-resistance! The government at that time gave up its capital, and it knew in advance that the Japanese army was approaching the city, and successively moved away gold and silver, cultural relics, important departments of the government and the army. Small-scale resistance does exist, and in Rabe Diary, there are also small episodes of soldiers guarding the city, street fighting, and civilians guarding the gates of the security zone, which are credible as an aid to the story. "He (referring to Wu Ziniu, the director of "Nanjing 1937" (1995)) saw nothing in the historical materials of the Nanjing Massacre, but did not see any spontaneous and large-scale resistance by the Chinese. If the so-called "resistance" refers to the resistance of the Chinese people, then he bypasses the most worthy part of the Nanjing Massacre and leaves this part. Chinese films based on the Nanjing Massacre do not have any progressive significance, but become empty. If Lu Chuan's so-called "resistance" refers to the resistance of the Japanese - it is not difficult to see that Lu Chuan really meant it - not only does he send out a series of "seeing" and "resistance" behaviors around Kadokawa in the film, the Japanese-style ceremony is in the film. It also appeared many times in Lu Chuan. When Lu Chuan promoted "Nanjing Nanjing", he also repeatedly mentioned how he explored the national character of the Japanese. He stepped into a third-party perspective, condescendingly criticizing the Japanese creation myth and the character contradiction of "chrysanthemum and sword", which is too extravagant for the Chinese who have not received an apology or comfort. In the hands of Lu Chuan, the heaviness of history is eased by the guise of "human nature". After all, we are facing a period of national humiliation, not Lu Chuan's obscenity to apologize to Japan.
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