The best thing about this moveie: You can watch it, without understanding a single word. The story is told via pictures.

The scene at 5:27 is not just 'burying the dead'. The Japanese had previously buried them alive.

This film is criminally underrated. There was only one historical inaccuracy I had a real gripe with and that was the reason for John Rhab returning to Germany (the Nazis switched from an alliance with the Chinese nationalists to the Japanese after the fall of Nanking)

This is the equivalent of Schindler's list. A masterpiece

This film is incredible. The scene of the dead women, forced into prostitution, is heart-crushing.

Great movie, I will watch this again. Thanks for reminding me this is out there 👍

Man this movie was so momentous. I am glad I watched it and glad you are reviewing/analyzing it. I also watched the 2012 film The Flowers of War which also featured the Nanking Massacre as the back drop which holds no bars but I still think City of Life and Death is better film. The sad part of this whole movie is after the war is that both countries Japan 🇯🇵 and China 🇨🇳 still look each other as enemies. Japan and its government led by its conservative nationalist politicians still denies its war time atrocities during World War II. China is still on this propaganda bent of viewing Japan as these monstrous people. The cycle is real.

I watched this when I was in China and have never felt more depressed in my life.

Visited the Nanking massacre memorial/museum after this movie…truly heartbreaking

@MusicaNLAlma

2 ай бұрын

Where?

Great video! But I do want to make something clear, I have a bit of issue with your wording. The people who did the Rape of Nanjing were in fact evil monsters, there isn't much worse a human being can do. And that's the point I'm trying to make right now... those evil monsters were human, and I think this shows how a normal human being can do the most horrific acts imaginable.

@livyourlife2039

Жыл бұрын

His argument is that good and evil actions are actually more nuanced than being a good or bad person. Something that is monstrous to you is rational or even positive to someone else in a different life or time. One of the many things this film is discussing is about how being stuck in your beliefs or brainwashed can send you down a dark path or create tragedies that people in the future will call unexplainable or evil.

@DarkStormProduction5

Жыл бұрын

@@livyourlife2039 Someone who does a mass rape is objectively bad whether they are nice in their normal life or not.

@novusregnum

Жыл бұрын

You just repeated what the guy said, but in a different way

@Jaco059

Жыл бұрын

And then the maoists did the same thing to their own people less then 10 years later they never learned anything.

@DarkStormProduction5

Жыл бұрын

@@Jaco059 Ah yes another person who knows zero Chinese history and simply goes with old outdated, discredited Cold War propaganda from the 50s-60s.

This movie was incredible. Every bit as good as Schindler's List

I've not seen this film, don't know if I have the stomach for it. For that, I appreciate your insight and analysis.

Thank you very sincerely for this movie. Despite working in both Japan and Taiwan ( last century), I hadn't heard of this movie. It seems like a deeply nuanced treatment of that time in history.

I watched this when I was young, and I remembered being horrified by the massacre. This film is very hard to watch.

@swsjr1

Жыл бұрын

Same, couldn't agree more.

Looked up the movie after this video. Thanks for the suggestion!

Thank you

You know, if Japanese society was able to face the evils of their past in China, lioe Americans have in Vietnam, I'd bet you Japan could make some AMAZING anti-War films, set in places like China, Indochina, Saipan, the Philippines and Burma, from a Japanese percpective.

@pingpong5877

5 ай бұрын

I doubt it, but I do have hope.

It has to be the victory march, with the drums.. Beauty after so much death.

One of the greatest movies of all time.

the close ups remind me of come and see

@Life Is A Story, I recently watched two good movies - "Dead Man's Letters" and "The Fall of Berlin Anonyma". You may find them interesting.

The point at 8:10 I'd like to correct, the most famous example of a Rabe-like character being on screen is actually Oskar Schindler, who saved thousands from death in Europe and was made into a movie called Schindler's List

I watched this years ago and still remember the young man killing himself. I wanted so badly for him to go home and find some happiness.

How can I watch this film? Is it on any service or am I going to have to pirate it?

@Colicab83

Жыл бұрын

It is on KZread. See the little magnifying glass icon? That is the built in search function. Type in the name of whatever you want to see, and it just may be there for you to indulge upon. If not, well google-fu must be learned. And if you can't find it there, you must learn to the ability to Sail thru the Bay aka Swedish Netflix aka Pirate Bay. Good luck on your future endeavors my friend. May you always find what you desire at your fingertips.

@UnkleKnuck

Жыл бұрын

@@Colicab83 people like you are insufferable

@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive

Жыл бұрын

I streamed it years ago on Netflix along with John Rabe and Children of Huang Shi.

@rishisaini5269

24 күн бұрын

It is now on KZread for free.

Devils on the Doorstep is a phenomenal movie

Well told. There's an underlaying theme here that isn't explored in enough movies. How ruling elites get thousands or more to fight and how even the soldiers of the 'winners' rarely benefit from this victory either. Veterans come back with PTSD, their whole country thrown into economical havoc, lots of casualties and morning families on the winning side too. 'Un long dimanche de fiançailles' is such an exception. But telling the same story about recent wars? When the West makes a movie about Putin's army, yes, but otherwise? What lies are told us, through media and movies that make us forget the lesson of this Nanking movie? For instance US superiority is worried about around the world, and most Americans don't even know, or care, which might be one step worse.

👍👍

Very good movie

Imperial Japan had always seen the Chinese as cowards, despite having many of its soldiers surrendering themselves to the Chinese "cowards" throughout the second Sino-Japanese War. This film sets the record straight to Japanese nationalists today that the real cowards had always been on their side. The Rape of Nanjing happened in 1937, but little did anyone know then, Chinese forces (KMT predominantly, with some Communist involvement) were in it for the long haul; fighting Imperial Japan despite the odds till the atomic bombings and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945.

I have seen most it and it is so well done, but hard to watch the brutality.

Why is it not in colour?

One of my most interesting thoughts is "How do you justify truth, and integrity to an authoritarian regime?". How do you get such movies, or art pieces made? What justifications must you make to get something like this made? What kind of mental gymnastics must be played, what vague connections to the orthodoxy of the party must be upplayed, and what unorthodoxy must be downplayed. Shostakovitch had to do this to justify his music to Stalin, Lu Chuan had to do that for this film, as well as numerous other artists.

i just watched this movie for the first time in 2023. lets say it was really painful to watch.

use tactics to your advantage.

I was so positively surprised by this move. Just imagine how many masterpieces China could produce if she was a democratic country with free speech.

@hyro1112

7 ай бұрын

if you ever lived in china you'll find just how free the speech is. people there say whatever they want when they want in public. china is a mix of democracy and communism. not fully one or the other but sort of a society where they try to extract the best of both systems.

@tessalyyvuo1667

7 ай бұрын

@@hyro1112 So I would be okay to say Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh and that the government is a dick for what they do to the Uyghurs? I know there are worse dictatorships, but that doesn't mean anyone should settle to a lesser evil.

@hyro1112

7 ай бұрын

@@tessalyyvuo1667 lets put it like this. Western media is a like a bad ex gf that talks shit about you but leaves out certain information so things get taken out of context. Kinda like saying " john killed someone" you would automatically think oh shit hes a murderer. But actually in reality "john killed an intruder to defend his kids". Thats what its like when the west talks about china.

@bruhtnt4258

5 ай бұрын

@@tessalyyvuo1667 Yes you actually can.

@tessalyyvuo1667

5 ай бұрын

@@bruhtnt4258 Really? Okay, could you show me a case of someone doing it and not get in trouble? I will be very happy to be proven wrong about this as I would like to visit China some day, but I wont stay quiet about the human right violations there.

use delay action poison an antidotes.

This was an incredibly good movie, but I will warn you, brace yourself before you watch it.

It's a shame China's people are under such tyrannical rule. There's clearly alot of them that have talent and want to use it but aren't allowed to.

@hyro1112

7 ай бұрын

have u even been there? most people live a good fucking life there.

@bruhtnt4258

5 ай бұрын

Ig you’ve never actually seen China for yourself

@rishisaini5269

24 күн бұрын

​@@bruhtnt4258 Have you ?

factions scrin nod and gdi and mutants.

zhu de pengdehuai lin biao and liubocheng.

so basically chinese come and see got it

Japanese Schindlers list 🙏

Unnecessary intro - this isn't something censored at all in China. The criticisms never came from the government - they were just a few people on social media. I'm more interested what you think of the film vs random people on Chinese social media (which in no way are representative of the whole Chinese population).

@lanonimozeneisecanadoclaud8887

2 ай бұрын

So can you watch it in China?

@roro-mm7cc

2 ай бұрын

@@lanonimozeneisecanadoclaud8887 yes it premiered in China.

@lanonimozeneisecanadoclaud8887

2 ай бұрын

@@roro-mm7cc fair enough

zhude pengdehuai lin biao and liubocheng!!!!!!!!!!!

Flowers of war was good

Lol there’s no way Chinese government would censor these movies

@BenHopkins1000

9 ай бұрын

Especially if their the ones holding the reins of the narrative

guns grenades mortars and flamethrowers, rifles, and grenade launchers...........................

To me it didn't show the Japanese soldiers as humans. The rapes, throwing the child out of the window, the lack of empathy throughout the whole story.

@yoloi2470

Жыл бұрын

It symbolises the japanese stress and complex emotion that they are experiencing after the sino ww2.

I never understand the gripe of chinese censorship with this film. Some Japanese being more "humane" mainly underlines the brutallity of the rest. Certainly a hard to watch, but necessary film.

wang jingwei ruled nanjing very well.

you nened guns grenade bzaooka and rocket launchers and flamethrowers to sruvive durign hard times

Say what you want about CPC sensorship, this movie was still made regardless. When has any American film maker given the Germans in WWII the same treatment? I'm sure some indie film studio has already done it, and I'm just not aware, but imagine trying to make a film like that in today's political climate. My point is that China might have government tyranny, but here in the States we have that plus the tyranny of woke opinion.

@joeyartk

Жыл бұрын

Better yet, have China and the US show their own atrocities over the years. It would be a very long movie.

Japan: haha! We captured the Chinese capital! They’ll finally surrender now! Right? ……………….. right???

A large reason to why Chinese censorship is so strong in regard to war movies is because they don't want people to fixate on the individual cases of humanity but focus on the bigger picture of why certain behavior is bad and how to avoid said behaviors on a national level. And they are fairly straight to the point, if a nation is unstable, poor and un-unified, then it will be exploited by other nations, and the citizens will suffer. Does it matter if a single solider or officer showed mercy when the whole army is committing atrocities? No. There is simply no point of doing that, so why does western movies often focuses on the individual's struggle instead of national level consciousness building? Because the US simply has been in the wrong in many of the modern era conflicts; however, due to popular culture and propaganda, the American citizens never thought about the reasons to why a conflict arose in the first place. To say that Vietnam war is completely avoidable is an understatement, yet the American popular consciousness thought of it as more of an "accidental tragedy" instead of a government failure which resulted in the death of thousands of Americans. And the same "accidental tragedy" unfolds again in Iraq, yet the modern generation has not learned a thing from Vietnam War, but just folded in and gone along with the horrible government decision making again. A "good" war movie in the western lenses are very limited to the scope of an individual because the audience are too ignorant and self-centered to acknowledge that things often are out of their hand, yet unconsciously the audience know how weak they are in front of a historical torrent such as the Vietnam war, hence why movies that portray individual cases of humanity to reflect on war get high praises, but almost always fail short of actually reflecting on why a war is started and how we can prevent it and failed to showcase the brutality of war on a national level instead of from just the individual perspective which confuses the audience to their agency in questioning authorities at the right timings. Essentially, the western movies are all about rare cases of humanity when horrendous shit already unfolded, whereas Chinese government wants movies to reflect how to avoid horrendous shit from unfolding. Of course, I really don't expect any Americans would understand the distinction, since only Americans would think having US army half way across a global fighting for corrupted local politicians is normal as long as the corrupted and unjust force align with US interest. And I think that points to the consciousness that a lot of Americans lack, perhaps the world is not built for the sole purpose of US comfort, amazing idea isn't it?

@gravityissues5210

Жыл бұрын

One of the more articulate Little Pink tankie wumao pieces of propaganda I’ve read on here; bravo. It’s still only gonna pay 50¢ though.

@BenHopkins1000

9 ай бұрын

Can’t do anything about the past, only in the here and now can we set things right for later

@Tax_Collector01

7 ай бұрын

I don’t think it’s wise to speak in your own little bubble, otherwise you would not have sorely misunderstood how we think.

What is Chinese censorship?

@lst9701

Жыл бұрын

ask your parents

@dotagames4090

Жыл бұрын

@@lst9701 But my parents never lived in China

@SonofTiamat

Жыл бұрын

@@dotagames4090 It's just communism doing what it does

@dotagames4090

Жыл бұрын

@@SonofTiamat What communism? There is capitalism on the way to communism.

@SonofTiamat

Жыл бұрын

@@dotagames4090 Playing ignorant is a sign of intellectual dishonesty

Do you know how many movies are made about Chinese people killing Japanese people? Hundreds there are theme parks for kids can go and ride around a little carts and shoot alive people that are dressed like Japanese soldiers. Getting a movie through Chinese censors about Japanese people mass-murdering Chinese people and making them look terrible it's probably the one movie you easily could get through Chinese censors was not any kind of amazing accomplishment. I'm not speaking of the movie or the events I'm just saying you want to get a movie shown China just make sure it's killing Japanese people you're probably be in good shape.

@yoloi2470

Жыл бұрын

Well , It is too outdated now since around 2009 it was a trend to boost anti - japanese influence even in taiwan and south korea. But these kind of anti japanese movies are not produced anymore. I dont think the theme park that you claim existed.

@thefockn3831

Жыл бұрын

@@yoloi2470 not in China just last year they produced for blatantly anti-japanese movies they hate Japanese people over there in China or at least their communist government does that make it a point to exploit them for propaganda purposes constantly.

@frankhill4358

Жыл бұрын

What theme park are you talking about? Also it’s hardly like Japan is the innocent victim of this backlash when they have shrines dedicated to war criminals and also deny their war crimes

@BenHopkins1000

9 ай бұрын

@@yoloi2470Guess you’ve never heard of Song of the Bandits. Picture Red Dead Redemption in Japanese-occupied Korea (1911-45)

@Gepap3

5 ай бұрын

@@BenHopkins1000 That is a KOREAN show

I don't understand what all this fuss about Chinese censorship is about. So what? It's not going to happen here in America so why even bothe......................

@sixels5550

9 ай бұрын

Yet they did it with Letters of Iwo Jima