Movie-Nanking

A 2007 documentary, Nanking explores the Japanese invasion of China, that was really the start of WWII. The Japanese invasion of China signalled its expansionist militaristic agenda, and really foreshadowed the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The barbarity of the militaristic Japan, prior to, and including WWII, is well documented. It is a far cry from the Japan of today. And the Rape of Nanking shows that brutal barbarity at some of its worst.

The documentary takes an unusual path, using a group of actors to read the words of some of the foreign nationals that tried to protect the Chinese peasants. This seems trite, but is very effective, and becomes so compelling, as they read the first person accounts taken from diaries and letters of people who were there. Especially Mariel Hemingway does an amazing job, one that brings a lump to your throat.

The film makes me think about war again, it makes me wonder how we let our governments continue to do this horrid, wretched thing called war. It brings me face to face with my inaction to protest more my governments involvement in death and destruction and horror.

The Japanese civilians did not know the extent of the atrocities committed by their soldiers in Nanking. The raping and killing of children. The first hand accounts of survivors of the Nanking massacres are terrible to hear. But we know that many innocent people are being killed in our wars. And yet, I do nothing to stop it. I do nothing to protest.

I wander a bit into more than the movie, but the power of a documentary is that it is MORE than movie. How am I preventing another Nanking, another Aushweitz? Does not the crimes of the past demand that I do more. The German and Japanese citizens in WWII can say the same as me...I did not know, I did not think we were really doing this...it was the government and the military.

Nanking is powerful and sad and shows heroes and villians. Which one am I? Which one are you? Which one are we all?