NANKING - DVD review

Earlier this year, the latest movie in the "Rambo" franchise created quite a stir due to the extreme severity of apparent nonstop graphic violence depicted in the film. The sad truth is that for many people, the visual horrors in Stallone's fictitious picture are unexaggerated and a harsh reality. Mass rapes and brutal killings run rampant throughout the wartimes of our history, and what's worse is that in certain areas like Burma, Rwanda, and the Darfur region of the Sudan, the savagery still goes on in modern times.

One particularly significant bloody stain on humanity that most of us in the western hemisphere aren't even aware of took place over seventy years ago. Four years before their infamous strike on United States forces at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Imperial Army invaded China, using Shanghai as a stepping-stone to eventually overtake the country's capital city, Nanjing. According to the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, an estimated 300,000 kills and 20,000 rapes occurred at the hands of Japanese soldiers in just the first month of Nanjing's occupation. However, the list would be far greater if not for the actions of a handful of Westerners who put their necks on the line and saved thousands. Their story is brought to the forefront of the public eye in ThinkFilm's documentary, "Nanking."

After reading the 1997 nonfictional bestseller, "The Rape of Nanking" by author Iris Chang, AOL executive Ted Leonsis funded and produced "Nanking" to not only publicize this horrible tragedy, but also to honor the few brave souls and their acts of heroism. The documentary features actual black-and-white footage taken during the invasion, interviews with surviving victims and soldiers, and the rest of the narrative is held together by actors portraying the long-gone Westerners responsible for developing the refugee Safety Zone on the outskirts of Nanking. But make no mistake, there is no acting here of any kind. Even though we see familiar faces like Stephen Dorff and Woody Harrelson dressed in period clothing, the sole purpose of their presence is only to read the actual journals and letters that the real-life heroes left behind.

In total, there were twenty-two Westerners that tried to make a difference, although the film focuses on just a handful of them. Two missionaries were responsible for recording and preserving the visual evidence taken during the invasion of Nanking. John Magee (Hugo Armstrong) shot footage of actual events, and George Fitch (John Getz), smuggled the eight reels of films he had sewn into his coat out of the country on his return to the United States. Dr. Bob Wilson (Woody Harrelson) was a surgeon who disguised many of the wounded Chinese troops as civilian refugees in an effort to prevent their termination. John Rabe (Jürgen Prochnow) was a rich businessman and member of the Nazi party who was stripped of all his wealth after he made the mistake of sending a letter and film evidence to Hitler hoping to gain his country's support. Minnie Vautrin (Mariel Hemingway), an American who became the Dean of Ginling's Woman's College in China, reportedly saved the lives of 10,000 women and children. The Nanking Safety Zone covered two square miles including Rabe's house, Wilson's hospital, and Ginling Women's College.

As mentioned previously, the documentary also includes the accounts from actual victims. Survivor Chang Zhi Qiang (age nine at the time) weeps as he recollects how his mother, while breast-feeding his younger brother, was bayoneted numerous times by a Japanese soldier right before his eyes. Survivor Ni Cui Ping (age eleven) tells how the soldiers pillaged belongings, burned down homes, and killed entire families. Survivor Xia Shu Qin (age seven) was shot three times and awoke seeing her dead mother lying naked beside her. Another Survivor, Zhang Xiu Hong (age twelve), shares how the soldiers would capture large groups of young girls and line them up, choosing the attractive ones to rape and eventually becoming a victim herself. These are just a small fraction of the horror stories that are included in the film.

While doing research for my review, I came across someone's comments disputing that "Nanking" is biased and even noted that he stopped watching it roughly fifteen minutes into the program. This aggravates me because a) nobody can't properly judge a film unless they see the entire production and b) this person's ignorance resulted in him completely missing the credible testimonies from surviving Japanese soldiers. Daimon Yoshio tells how the military order was to "mop up" the city of Nanking, while Corporal Deguchi Gonjiro and sailor Mitani Shou confirm witnessing dead bodies everywhere. Three Japanese soldiers from the Yamada Unit--Hayashi Otokichi, Matsuzaka Takashi, and Saito Futosh--each tell a similar story of how they would take prisoners down to the banks of the Yangtze River to shoot them in the backs with machine guns. Kitamura Shogo, another Yamada Unit soldier, even smiles when he talks about the "pitiful sounds of their voices." These clips didn't just validate the rape and plunder of Nanking, the lack of remorse in the eyes of the soldiers had to be the most disturbing part about the film.

Video:
"Nanking" is presented in anamorphic widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The sequences with the actors and survivors have exceptional detail to the picture and even the old black-and-white footage was impressive. The older films were still somewhat degraded with specks of grain and debris from age, but they still appear very crisp and pristine. It wouldn't surprise me if they had been cleaned up for the DVD.

Audio:
The disc has two audio options Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Stereo. I found a good balance between the music and dialogue without any noticeable defects. Documentaries don't normally showcase too much in the surround department, but there were a few instances that immersed the viewer into the chaos--like the aerial bombings that feel chillingly realistic. We finish up with Spanish subtitles and closed captioning for the hearing impaired.

Extras:
On the menu screen there's a theatrical trailer for "Nanking" and a few additional previews on startup: "Taxi to the Dark Side," "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," "War Dance," and "In the Shadow of the Moon."

The Final Cut:
"Nanking" serves as both a painful reminder of the horrors and an honorable memorial to the heroes of one of the most tragic events in our history. Just be warned that some of the footage in this restricted documentary might be hard for some viewers to stomach.