Our take
When we think about the atrocities committed during World War II, most people would remember the Holocaust, but this war was fought on multiple fronts, not just the West, and one of the most notorious incidents was the Rape of Nanjing. City of Life and Death depicts the massacre in black and white through various perspectives, which proved to be controversial considering some Japanese soldiers were depicted with sympathy, but it drives home the horror, the devastation, the terrible reality of the evil unfurled in the war. City of Life and Death is truly harrowing. The only consolation is that Nanjing thrives today as the Jiangsu province’s capital.
Streaming arrival
What it won
LAFCA
1 win · 1 nom
The story
In 1937, during the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial Japanese Army has just captured Nanjing, then-capital of the Republic of China. What followed was known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, a six week period wherein tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed.
Elsewhere
"One of the most powerful films you'll ever see. Literally unforgettable."
— Matt Bochenski
Nanjing, 1937. After Japanese forces occupy the former Chinese capital, a band of soldiers are sent to comb the city to kill the remaining combatants, and discover the terrified refugees hiding in the Nanjing Safety Zone.
I feel like it’s black and white only to spare us the red blood, but it’s still terribly harrowing to watch.
God, I hope that the events of this film will never happen again.
Who picked it
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
