1. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. "Nanking Massacre". June 1997.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_massacre>
2. The Rape of Nanking: Introduction. "Background". March 2001.
<http://www.tribo.org/nanking/>
3. Nanking, the Film. "Film Synopsis", "Production Team, Director/Producer, Bill Guttentag". November 2006.
<http://www.nankingthefilm.com/home.html>
4. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). "Nanking". September 2007.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0893356/>
Written by Aries
2008年6月22日 星期日
2008年6月21日 星期六
Nanking Massacre, A History and A Scar
In the name of the history, all atrocities should be condemned; all innocent victims should be conciliated and all truths should be reavealed. In all souls of Chinese, we got a collective consciousness, which is the memory of how our species suffered in the World war II and the unforgettable scar and sorrow in the war against to Japan imperialism. Eight years of hard fighting against Japan invasion, the Chinese survival was put into severe tests, however, showed its magnificence and dignity. Nanking Massacre was one of the cruelest events in human history, no matter in its scale or in range. According to the summary judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East – also known as the Tokyo Trials, “estimates indicate that the total number of civilians and prisoners of war murdered in Nanking and its vicinity during the first six weeks of the Japanese occupation was over 200,000. Unfortunately, the nation, Japan, which in charge of the atrocities still refuse to admit the rape of the Nanking and is unwilling to apologize to the victims. Furthermore, their authority cheat their own people and the whole world and try to cover up the atrocities. In order to accuse the feigned truths which was made to conceal the true history, after reading the book, "The Rape of Nanking", Bill Guttentag standed out as a director and producer with his outstanding idiosyncrasies, making a documentary about Nanking Massacre through the eyes of a group of the third-party people, the westerners. He interpreted the events through a different view, which in two parts moved me a lot, idiosyncrassies and humanity concern with no limitation.
The movie was made in a moving idiosyncrasy, which make its audiences impossible to ignore the shock and vigor transmit from the screen. Interviews of survivors and archival footages come one after the others, combine with a pre-filmed emotional stage reading of the diaries and letters which were written by those westerners holding the safety zone, it is so touchable that made me have goose bumps when I was watching. I remember an old lady, who described how her family were separated and how she was raped for exchange for her younger sister's life. The sadest scene to me is that she described this horrible event in a plain tone as if it happened to somebody else, however, I knew that the expression was a tone with no soul and animation, for that she had left her soul and happiness in the day her life was raped. I believe everybody could understand this. After unbearable agonies, people would lose some parts of themselves and their lives woould get tremendously changed. The reaction of the old lady coould be easily understand by all audiences and get their sympathies. However, there is nothing in the whole world could compensate or make up the old lady's lose in that catastrophic evening.
Secondly, another aspect moved me a lot in the film, which is the selflessness of those westerners. They could flee back to their countries, Japanese authority had already announced the quests of evacuation for those foreigners who still stayed in China, however, they chose to stay spontaneously. They might be killed by unleashed and mad Japanese soldiers or got shot for hanging around on the streets, not to mention to hold the safety zones for refugees, however, they did it. Only at the extreme situations could humans' noblest natures be displayed. They would not soldiers, on the contrast, they would just unarmed civilians, who were doctors, nurses, nuns, teachers and merchantdisers. They could get killed for these disobediences to the order of evacuation, but they would rather choose to stay, not because of they were trying to be heroes, but for they thought they should. They firmly believed in what they were doing at the mid of the massacre and at the moment, the released faces from refugees would their greatest rewards. There is a old yet percise term for whom did these great deeds, "Anonymous heroes", for them making all the differences for those refugees in matter of life and death. All Chinese and its descendents should honor their names and keep it in mind for their noblenesses, more even, the whole humanity should remember and cherish these characteristics in human being natures. No matter how the world changes, I believe in the noble characteristic in human nature.
To us, it might just a movie, which is as unreal as a distant war, but for those old ladies and old men, these are the wound and scar which haunt them to their death. We, Chinese, should not forget these, even, the world should not forget these. These stories should be recorded and carried on from generations to generations, in case of such cruelty will not happen again to any species in the world. After all, what make us superior to another creatures in the world? they are civilization, rationalism and kindness.
Written by Aries
The movie was made in a moving idiosyncrasy, which make its audiences impossible to ignore the shock and vigor transmit from the screen. Interviews of survivors and archival footages come one after the others, combine with a pre-filmed emotional stage reading of the diaries and letters which were written by those westerners holding the safety zone, it is so touchable that made me have goose bumps when I was watching. I remember an old lady, who described how her family were separated and how she was raped for exchange for her younger sister's life. The sadest scene to me is that she described this horrible event in a plain tone as if it happened to somebody else, however, I knew that the expression was a tone with no soul and animation, for that she had left her soul and happiness in the day her life was raped. I believe everybody could understand this. After unbearable agonies, people would lose some parts of themselves and their lives woould get tremendously changed. The reaction of the old lady coould be easily understand by all audiences and get their sympathies. However, there is nothing in the whole world could compensate or make up the old lady's lose in that catastrophic evening.
Secondly, another aspect moved me a lot in the film, which is the selflessness of those westerners. They could flee back to their countries, Japanese authority had already announced the quests of evacuation for those foreigners who still stayed in China, however, they chose to stay spontaneously. They might be killed by unleashed and mad Japanese soldiers or got shot for hanging around on the streets, not to mention to hold the safety zones for refugees, however, they did it. Only at the extreme situations could humans' noblest natures be displayed. They would not soldiers, on the contrast, they would just unarmed civilians, who were doctors, nurses, nuns, teachers and merchantdisers. They could get killed for these disobediences to the order of evacuation, but they would rather choose to stay, not because of they were trying to be heroes, but for they thought they should. They firmly believed in what they were doing at the mid of the massacre and at the moment, the released faces from refugees would their greatest rewards. There is a old yet percise term for whom did these great deeds, "Anonymous heroes", for them making all the differences for those refugees in matter of life and death. All Chinese and its descendents should honor their names and keep it in mind for their noblenesses, more even, the whole humanity should remember and cherish these characteristics in human being natures. No matter how the world changes, I believe in the noble characteristic in human nature.
To us, it might just a movie, which is as unreal as a distant war, but for those old ladies and old men, these are the wound and scar which haunt them to their death. We, Chinese, should not forget these, even, the world should not forget these. These stories should be recorded and carried on from generations to generations, in case of such cruelty will not happen again to any species in the world. After all, what make us superior to another creatures in the world? they are civilization, rationalism and kindness.
Written by Aries
Introduction of Director- Bill Guttentag
Bill Guttentag wrote and directed "Live!", a dramatic feature which will premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. The film stars Eva Mendes, Andre Braugher, David Krumholtz, and Jay Hernandez, and is produced by Mosaic Media Group. He also wrote and directed "Nanking", a theatrical documentary which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film includes a stage reading he wrote that features Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway, and Jürgen Prochnow.
In 2003 he won an Oscar for the documentary "Twin Towers (Universal)". It was his second Academy Award; the first was in 1989 for "You Don't Have to Die", a film he made for HBO.
He has also received three additional Oscar nominations, and two Emmy Awards. His films have been selected three times for the Sundance Film Festival and have played and won awards at numerous American and international film festivals. Guttentag’s films have received a number of special screenings, including one at the White House.
Bill Guttentag created and executive produced the NBC series Crime & Punishment, which ran for three seasons (2002-2004). The series was part of the Law & Order family of shows, and was created with Dick Wolf, who was also an executive producer. Over the series’ run, nearly every show was in the Nielsen top 20.
Bill Guttentag has made documentary films for HBO, ABC, CBS and others. His HBO films include "Crack USA", which was nominated for an Academy Award; and "Memphis PD: War on the Streets", for which he received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. In 1998 Guttentag directed "Assassinated: The Last Days of Kennedy and King (executive produced by Oliver Stone)" on the final year in the lives of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King.
He wrote, produced and directed "The Cocaine War", an ABC News/Peter Jennings Reporting special on the drug war in South America. He also made "5 American Handguns – 5 American Kids", an Emmy-nominated HBO special on children and handguns. The film was honored by Jim and Sara Brady and The Brady Center to Prevent Handgun Violence.
Bill Guttentag is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the American Film Institute. In 1998-99 he was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. Since 2001 he has been teaching a class on the film and television business at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford.
Written by Aries
Background of Nanking
Japan had a presence in mainland Asia since 1931, when the annexed Manchuria and established Manchuoko, a puppet Japanese state. In August 1937, Japan began a full-scale invasion of China. The Japanese army fought a series of fierce ground battles in Shanghai and launched a massive air raid campaign against Nanking, then China’s capital. By November 12th, Shanghai had fallen and by December 13th, the Japanese had defeated the defending Chinese army and invaded the city of Nanking.
The events now known as ‘the rape of Nanking’ lasted approximately six weeks. The city was looted and burned, and marauding Japanese soldiers unleashed a staggering wave of violence on Nanking’s population. According to the summary judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East – also known as the Tokyo Trials, “estimates indicate that the total number of civilians and prisoners of war murdered in Nanking and its vicinity during the first six weeks of the Japanese occupation was over 200,000. Approximately 20,000 cases of rape occurred in the city during the first month of the occupation.”
Prior to the fall of the city, many Chinese fled the approaching troops and all foreign citizens were ordered to evacuate. A group of 22 European and American expatriates, however, refused to leave. Despite devastating air strikes and the threat of an oncoming army, these Westerners – including John Rabe, a Nazi businessman; Bob Wilson, an American surgeon; and Minni Vautrin, the American headmistress of a missionary college – remained behind in order to set up a Safety Zone to protect civilians. Some two hundred thousand refugees crowded into the Zone, which spanned two square miles. During the brutal occupation, Safety Zone committee members vehemently protested the army’s actions to the Japanese authorities, but the carnage continued. Every day John Rabe, Minnie Vautrin, and the others fought to keep the Safety Zone’s boundaries intact and the refugees safe.
By March, the worst of the violence had subsided and the army moved on, leaving behind an occupying force. The refugee camps in the Safety Zone were disbanded, though intensive relief efforts continued. The Japanese set up a puppet government that ruled Nanking until the end of the war. In 1948, the Tokyo Tribunal convicted Iwane Matsui, commander of Japanese forces in central China, of war crimes and sentenced him to death. Emperor Hirohito and his uncle Prince Asaka, who commanded the troops that actually occupied Nanking during the massacre, were spared.
Today, Many Japanese know little about the wartime atrocities their country committed throughout Asia. Seventy years later, the invasion of Nanking remains a divisive issue. Some Japanese ultra-conservatives deny or minimize the massacre; to this day, many Japanese believe stories of atrocities in Nanking are exaggerations and lies. Soon after producer Ted Leonsis decided to create a documentary about Nanking, mass protests broke out in China over Japanese approval of textbooks that called the Nanking massacre an ‘incident.’ The protests made headlines around the world. Many in Asia are also outraged by the former Japanese prime minister’s annual pilgrimage to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. Along with millions of soldiers who died for the Japanese Emperor, Yasukuni – which translates as ‘peaceful nation’ – enshrines the souls of 14 class A war criminals.
Written by Aries
The events now known as ‘the rape of Nanking’ lasted approximately six weeks. The city was looted and burned, and marauding Japanese soldiers unleashed a staggering wave of violence on Nanking’s population. According to the summary judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East – also known as the Tokyo Trials, “estimates indicate that the total number of civilians and prisoners of war murdered in Nanking and its vicinity during the first six weeks of the Japanese occupation was over 200,000. Approximately 20,000 cases of rape occurred in the city during the first month of the occupation.”
Prior to the fall of the city, many Chinese fled the approaching troops and all foreign citizens were ordered to evacuate. A group of 22 European and American expatriates, however, refused to leave. Despite devastating air strikes and the threat of an oncoming army, these Westerners – including John Rabe, a Nazi businessman; Bob Wilson, an American surgeon; and Minni Vautrin, the American headmistress of a missionary college – remained behind in order to set up a Safety Zone to protect civilians. Some two hundred thousand refugees crowded into the Zone, which spanned two square miles. During the brutal occupation, Safety Zone committee members vehemently protested the army’s actions to the Japanese authorities, but the carnage continued. Every day John Rabe, Minnie Vautrin, and the others fought to keep the Safety Zone’s boundaries intact and the refugees safe.
By March, the worst of the violence had subsided and the army moved on, leaving behind an occupying force. The refugee camps in the Safety Zone were disbanded, though intensive relief efforts continued. The Japanese set up a puppet government that ruled Nanking until the end of the war. In 1948, the Tokyo Tribunal convicted Iwane Matsui, commander of Japanese forces in central China, of war crimes and sentenced him to death. Emperor Hirohito and his uncle Prince Asaka, who commanded the troops that actually occupied Nanking during the massacre, were spared.
Today, Many Japanese know little about the wartime atrocities their country committed throughout Asia. Seventy years later, the invasion of Nanking remains a divisive issue. Some Japanese ultra-conservatives deny or minimize the massacre; to this day, many Japanese believe stories of atrocities in Nanking are exaggerations and lies. Soon after producer Ted Leonsis decided to create a documentary about Nanking, mass protests broke out in China over Japanese approval of textbooks that called the Nanking massacre an ‘incident.’ The protests made headlines around the world. Many in Asia are also outraged by the former Japanese prime minister’s annual pilgrimage to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. Along with millions of soldiers who died for the Japanese Emperor, Yasukuni – which translates as ‘peaceful nation’ – enshrines the souls of 14 class A war criminals.
Written by Aries
Plot of Nanking
Nanking tells the story of the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China, in the early days of World War II. As part of a campaign to conquer all of China, the Japanese subjected Nanking – which was then China’s capital – to months of aerial bombardment, and when the city fell, the Japanese army unleashed murder and rape on a horrifying scale. In the midst of the rampage, a small group of Westerners banded together to establish a Safety Zone where over 200,000 Chinese found refuge. Unarmed, these missionaries, university professors, doctors and businessmen – including a Nazi named John Rabe – bore witness to the events, while risking their own lives to protect civilians from slaughter. Directors interpreted the film as a documentary, which is told through deeply moving interviews with Chinese survivors, chilling archival footage and photos of the events, and testimonies of former Japanese soldiers. Another crucial idiosyncrasy of the film, Nanking, is a filmed stage reading of Westerners' letters and diaries, which was presented by Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway and Jurgen Prochnow. Through its interweave of archival images, testimonies of survivors, and readings of first hand accounts, the film puts the viewer on the streets of Nanking and brings the forgotten past to startling life. When audiences watch the film, it is just like these atrocities are taking place in front of them, beheaded innocent civilians, burried alive women and children, and raped young girls. Horrible scenes is told in a deep and sorrowful tone by those survivors, Westerners, and solidiers. In the film, there is even a Nazi officer, who hold the safety zone for Chinese refugees. He wrote a letter to his superiors asked for solution. These Westerners who hold the safety zone, were not soldiers. They were unarmed nuns, teachers, doctors, and priests. They banded spontaneously, just because they thought they have to. Directors make this film in a touched way, furthermore, they want to reveal truths, and that is the reason why they filmed it as a documentary.
Written by Aries
Written by Aries
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