Film on Japanese occupation of Nanjing wins top prize in San Sebastian

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WMD at 05:49 PM JST - 28th September

Nanjing film NOT coming soon to your local theater! They can't face the truth and ditch their victimhood which has served them so well over the years
GW at 06:46 PM JST - 28th September

I bet it wont show at any or maybe a brave few J-theatres because of the usual excuse "it will cause confusion"
dishdash at 09:31 PM JST - 28th September

"NeoJamal at 02:01 PM JST - 28th September

Just as the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved alot of Japanese lives, the rape of Nanking saved alot of Chinese lives."

How does that logic work? Are you saying by raping and pillaging Nanjing it brought China's plight to the world? Thats just crazy. Its like saying the gas chambers of all those German prisons brought the plight of the Jews to the world and saved the remaining Jews. I am afraid I cannot see the logic in your comment.
bamboohat at 10:10 PM JST - 28th September

NEWS FLASH:

All throughout history, when conquering armies took over cities, they usually raped and murdered to their hearts content.

From Alexander at Babylon to the Japanese at Nanking, war is about killing people. Combatants, noncombatants, women, babies. Even in the old testament, God herself told the Israelites to not spare a single life after razing a city.

The only thing different in the last two generations is there is a record of it, and you can watch pictures on youtube.

The whole of western civilization rests on the utter defeat and brutal murder of all her enemies, just as the Japanese did to the Chinese at Nanking.

The way it generally works is that the losers whine, and the winners conveniently forget the atrocities.

Don't you think the indiscriminate bombing of most of Japan (which killed just as many) would be considered war crimes if the allies had lost?

War means killing.

No one is innocent.
nemoflow at 10:25 PM JST - 28th September

bamboohat;

Yes, throughout history, this has indeed happened. I think the thing that is most shocking of the Japanese example, is that it occurred almost halfway into the 20th century, way after the west emancipated itself from such medieval ways of operating.
Youjinbou at 12:28 AM JST - 29th September

I read that at the time the Japanese got to Nanking, there were NOT "hundreds of thousands" of people there; most had heard the Japanese were coming and had already evacuated, and that most of the people still there were people in the Chinese armed forces, dressed as civilians. No doubt both sides exagerated their case.
nemoflow at 01:01 AM JST - 29th September

All feels a bit like watching one's younger cousins fighting, doesn't it. I mean, it is not a proper smashing, like the A-Bomb. Now THAT was a proper beating.
888naff at 02:56 AM JST - 29th September

wonder if anyone knows whether the film actually any good on its own merits to deserve an award?
sydenham at 06:07 AM JST - 29th September

nemoflow,

it occurred almost halfway into the 20th century, way after the west emancipated itself from such medieval ways of operating.

You didn't write that statement seriously, did you?
kokorocloud at 08:16 AM JST - 29th September

bamboohat-- I totally agree with you. However, in regards to THIS film and what the director was trying to get across, I want to hope that he made it as real as possible instead of sugarcoating it (which history books and "scholars" on one end tend to do) or making it into something it was not (i.e. the Japanese were a pack of empty, souless drones who displayed cruelty more than anyone in the world EVER-- right).
aj2o1 at 09:55 AM JST - 30th September

suffering of the people in Nanjing pales into insignificance when compared to the Chinese after the end of WW II hostilities where tens of millions of Chinese were killed, butchered and actually eaten by other Chinese. And factual movies based on acts by the winning side could very well be made which are at least equally horrifying.

and this pain and suffering could've been exaggerated by those opposed to the winning side. I'll probably get censored by the moderator, but some people show more kneejerk sympathy toward the victims of the Commies than to the victims of the Japanese.
jason6 at 10:41 AM JST - 30th September

"breakdown of discipline on the part of lower ranking soldiers" I disagree. National newspapers widely reported the beheading competitions staged by officers of the Japanese army. A clear endorsement to lower ranks be as depraved as they want.

"the west emancipated itself from such medieval ways of operating" in the past decades, we have seen from the west: waterboarding torture-interrogation and new forms of CIA-developed tortures, guantanamo bay (dog collars and religion-based humiliation), depleted uranium munitions, white phosphorus incendiary weapons, landmines, anthrax/mustard gas and all other chemical/biological weapons, etc etc etc.. what, you think that because it's more technologically advanced it can't be cruel?
sydenham at 09:45 AM JST - 1st October

jason 6.

I agree with all of what you wrote.
michaelqtodd at 04:36 PM JST - 3rd October

Jason 6 I agree with you too.I have read several books about this incident.They are too consistent for it all to be exaggerated. Surely it is best for movies like this to be given as wide an audience as possible to help prevent repitition and to encourage apology so that China and Japan can be better friends? The depleted uranium munitions presently being deployed in Iraq will I believe go down as one of the very biggest wartime atrocities
def at 09:55 AM JST - 4th October

in the past decades, we have seen from the west: waterboarding torture-interrogation and new forms of CIA-developed tortures, guantanamo bay (dog collars and religion-based humiliation), depleted uranium munitions, white phosphorus incendiary weapons, landmines, anthrax/mustard gas and all other chemical/biological weapons, etc etc etc.. what, you think that because it's more technologically advanced it can't be cruel?

Same old excuse: The West did bad stuff, so people should ignore Japan doing bad stuff. Either it's okay, or it's not. Most of humanity is against landmines, anthrax, etc etc, and it's vilified. Likewise, Japan's actions in Nanking will be vilified forever in history.

Nemoflow was right on; the behavior there was medieval.

There is no comparing the fire-bombing of Japan to the mass rape and murder games of Nanking. One was warfare and one sadism. Unbelievable that people feel compelled to make excuses for it.