Historically Speaking

The 1937 Japanese invasion of the once Chinese capital, Nanking, which resulted in the rape, torture, and death of over 200,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers, is a moment of history that is often overlooked by the West. Oscar-winning directors Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's 2007 documentary film Nanking is an attempt at reeducation, exposing viewers to rare video footage, photographs, and live interviews of people who had once called Nanking their home. It was the late Iris Chang's powerful novel, The Rape of Nanking, that inspired Vice-Chairman of AOL, Ted Leonsis, to produce the Nanking film. Since Chang's suicide in 2005, her novel remains one of the last extensive examinations on what is referred to as the "The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II." Leonsis' effort resulted in a culmination of 80 hours of interview footage and thousands of pages of letters, journals and diaries from archives in the United States, Europe and Asia. He put this together to focus on the story of how a handful of brave Westerners refused to leave Nanking and formed an international safety zone to protect Chinese lives.

Unique to the Nanking documentary's format is its perspective: through the talking head narration of the Westerners determined to save the lives of Chinese victims. Hollywood actors play the role of these Westerners, mirroring the dress and voices of these unknown heroes, the dialogue straight from the written accounts of these true-life survivors. Actor John Getz plays the missionary George Fitch; Woody Harrelson is Bob Wilson, the only surgeon in Nanking after the arrival of the Japanese; Mariel Heminway plays Minnie Vautrin, the chairwoman of the Education Department at the Ginling College and Christian missionary devoting her life to saving thousands of female victims; Jurgen Prochnow plays the German Nazi businessman John Rabe, who helped save 650 Chinese civilians on his estate; and Hugo Armstrong is minister and filmmaker John Magee, who helped establish a hospital and who documents the images of the wounded patients seeking care. In addition, Asian American actor Rosalind Chao voices the role of Chang Yu Zheng, a woman who stayed to help Christian missionary Minnie Vautrin, and Japanese actor Sonny Saito plays the Japanese solider Hiroshi Sakai.

The actual live interviews of Chinese survivors and Japanese soldiers garner the most moving and disturbing reactions in Nanking. Because the performances are juxtaposed with real-life testimonies of Chinese survivors, any overdramatization on the part of the actors becomes a problem. Are not the historic events of Nanking itself enough to produce weeping emotion? This is especially true with Hemingway's portrayal of Minnie Vautrin; her words and tone appear as though she is making a forced effort to create tearful reaction.

Reading the subtitles, we learn from these now elderly survivors as they describe their experiences of forced rape, mutilation, and inhumane torture. For a moment, time seemed to stop when one Chinese survivor, Chang Zhi Qiang, recalls an unforgettable story of how, at the age of nine, he witnessed the stabbing of his younger brother by a Japanese soldier who then "tossed" him away. Qiang remembers seeing his wounded mother, with her son's blood still gushing, trying to breastfeed his younger brother. It is stories like Qiang's that leave a permanent emotional impression on viewers. His tears made his narration all the more powerful, and inadvertantly reminds the audience that the actors' performances are fake.  

Just as the film begins with the Western perspective, Nanking also concludes with their updates; each Westerner who helped form the safety zone is highlighted. One of these revelations was that missionary Minnie Vautrin committed suicide upon her return to the United States, a lasting message that the film awkwardly ends with. As unexpected as her death was, it was an ending message I find rather unnerving. Should the final emotion of the film overlook the thousands of Chinese lives who suffered from the WWII Japanese invasion?

The historical importance of this documentary is one that cannot be argued, but I find fault with its choice of these heroes' visual re-creations. What remained bothersome throughout the film was that the Westerners portrayed by American actors were filmed in close-ups, like headshots, focusing on their famous faces that make them easily recognizable to moviegoers. Anonymity might have been a more successful interpretation. To understand the ultimate aim of the film is simple -- to shed light on a past that is often forgotten and to recognize unnamed heroes. Does the film need to display Hollywood-type celebrities in order to accomplish this? Perhaps producer Leonsis might argue yes; especially if it could draw more audiences to the theater. But in honor of Iris Chang, the Nanking heroes, and the millions of Chinese victims, directors Sturman and Guttentag could probably do without their Mariel Heminways and Woody Harrelsons.  Stylistically speaking, audience members do not know who how these real-life heroes look, speak, or act. In this type of situation, words speak for themselves.

Regardless of whether or not the actors were authentic in their portrayals, Nanking is a great, emotionally-charged film. The stories of hope and tragedy serve as cinema's attempt at capturing the insightfulness of The Rape of Nanking, and they also honor Iris Chang in her fight to expose untold history.