City of Life and Death

City of Life and Death is like a stranglehold on the mind – a ruthless war film that can only be compared to Elem Klimov’s brutal epic Go and See. The film takes place in 1937, a turning point in the Sino-Japanese war, the largest Asian conflict of the 20th century. It tells the controversial story of the Battle of Nanjing and depicts the Japanese’s perverse treatment of Chinese prisoners of war during six cruel weeks. The event has been named ”the Nanjing Massacre” and ”the Rape of Nanjing”. The narrative moves through numerous fictional and historical characters: a Chinese soldier, a teacher, a Nazi businessman who was behind the safety zone in the city and who saved several thousand people. Depicting some of the worst war crimes of our age, City of Life and Death hits the viewer with images of rapes and screaming children. It has become controversial because of the fact that the war is still a festering wound between China and Japan. Where Germany has paid billions in damages to its victims, Japan has celebrated its soldiers as war heroes. Make yourself ready for a cinematic eruption of a rare magnitude, brought to the big screen by one of China’s most talented directors. ee