Wednesday, January 15, 2025

THE 100 BEST WAR MOVIES: 15. City of Life and Death (2009)

 

                “City of Life and Death” (also called “Nanking! Nanking!” or “Nanjing! Nanjing!”) is a Chinese movie about the Nanking Massacre (or as the Japanese called it – the Nanking Incident) of 1937.  It was written and directed by Lu Chuan.    He based it on The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang.  He also used letters, diaries, and soldier interviews.    The film took four years from start to finish, including a year to be vetted by Chinese authorities.  It was a big box office hit.

            The movie is dedicated to “the 300,000 victims of the Nanking Massacre”.  Even before the credits roll there are some amazing visuals.  Japanese tanks attack the city walls.  Inside the city a mob of demoralized Chinese soldiers breaks through a human wall of their comrades to escape the city.  Refugees are also leaving the doomed city.  But not everyone gets out.  Some go to the Safety Zone created by a group of foreigners led by a German named John Rabe (John Pisley).  The Japanese have agreed to respect the Safety Zone as long as it contains no Chinese soldiers.  They apparently have not agreed to respect the Chinese women as their soldiers infiltrate to rape.  Minnie Vautrin (Beverly Pekous), an American missionary and head of the all-girl Ginling College, does her best to stop this.  Eventually, the Japanese demand 100 women to become “comfort women” (prostitutes in army brothels).  They also demand that all the disguised Chinese soldiers be turned over.  There are going to be a lot of executions.

            The movie covers both sides of the situation.  The main character is a Japanese soldier named Kadokawa (Nakaizumi Hideo).  He is greatly effected by what he witnesses and participates in.  He falls in love with a Japanese comfort woman named Yuriko (Miramoto Yuko).  He is counterbalanced by his commanding officer Ida (Khohata Ryu).  Their arcs will head in opposite directions.  The movie intercuts between Kadokawa, Ida, and their mates and  life in the Safety Zone.  Rabe, Vautrin, and other foreigners do their best to keep the refugees alive.  Rabe’s secretary Tang (Fan Wei) becomes a collaborator.  He is contrasted to the brave Miss Jiang (Gao Yuan Xuan) who risks her life to rescue Chinese soldiers.  The plight of the Chinese soldiers is represented by Shunzi (Zhao Yisui) and Xiaodouzi (Liu Bin).

ACTING:   A                

ACTION:   A+ (5/10) there’s just one scene but it is great

ACCURACY:  A

PLOT:  A                

REALISM:   A

CINEMATOGRAPHY:   A+

SCORE:   B

SCENE:  the combat scene

            “City of Life and Death” is an amazing movie.  It has few flaws.  The acting is great and the characters are indelible.  They cover the gamut of people effected by the massacre.  Notably, there are some strong female characters.  They are not all victims.  Kadokawa has gotten the most press due to the perception that he is too sympathetic of a character given the actions of most Japanese soldiers.  Undoubtedly, there were some actual soldiers who responded to what they saw and participated in by having their humanity pricked, but to have the main character exemplify that small minority caused a lot of controversy.  Lu Chuan received death threats and there was talk of the movie being removed from theaters.  It was removed from consideration for Chinese movie awards.  I can see that point of view.  Kadokawa is the only soldier who does not particapate in murder and rape.  Undoubtedly, there were some soldiers who retained their humanity, but as the movie shows, they were rare. The film shows how soldiers can be dehumanized by war. It also clearly depicts the power of peer pressure on young men. Lu Chuan includes scenes where the Japanese soldiers are not committing war crimes. Instead they are behaving like soldiers off the clock. The difference is jarring. How could these same men commit those atrocities. Lu does have a dastardly villain in Ida to represent the officers who not only condoned the actions, but encouraged them.  If you look at post-war Japan, you would think Kadokawa better represents Japan. The fact that Lu represented wartime Japan shows you how much the country changed after the war.            

            Although not a combat movie, the film does have one outstanding combat scene in which Shunzi and Xiaodouzi’s unit ambushes a Japanese patrol.  The cinematography reminds of South Korean war movies. Lu wisely filmed the movie in black and white. If a movie ever needed to be colorless, it’s this one. The camera puts us with the characters, which makes it even more impactful. The combat scene concludes the first 45 minutes which deal with the capture of the city. The rest of the movie focuses on the executions and the plight of those in the safety zoe.  Another memorable scene is when a prostitute named Xiaojiang (Jiang Yiyan) offers to be one of the 100 women the Japanese are “borrowing” as comfort women.  This is the best movie for learning about the women who were forced to be prostitutes. This did not happen just in Nanking. This policy has been swept under the rug in Japan. Sadly, many Japanese viewers would be learning of it for the first time. Not that many Japanese saw the movie. The movie can be gut-wrenching and has a montage of a variety of executions (although the censors forbade inclusion of Japanese officers beheading civilians).  The rapes are more implied than graphic. Believe it or not, the movie could have been more horrifying.   

            The script includes some historical persons like Rabe and Vautrin and several other characters are based on actual people, although they might be fictionalized in their portrayal.  Lu Chuan has done a good job of sticking to the historical facts.   It is not like there are no other movies on the Nanking Massacre.  “John Rabe” came out the same year and we have “The Flowers of War” from 2011.  This is the one to watch, however.  It tells the story in a very entertaining way.  As a history lesson, it is outstanding.

            I occasionally run across articles ranking the most horrific war movies. “Come and See” is on all those lists, but “City of Life and Death” is seldom included. I can make a case for it being harder to watch than “Come and See”. “City” has a similar scene to the church burning scene, plus much more killings. It also sacrifices several of the main characters. It has one individuals death that is shocking. More importantly, “C&S” ends with the satisfying decimation of the Nazi einsatzgruppen unit. There is no justice in “City”.

HISTORICAL ACCURACY:  The Nanking Massacre took place in the Second Sino-Japanese War.  After capturing Shanghai, the Japanese army pressed on to the Chinese capital.  The Chinese army put up little fight.  The walls were breached with artillery fire (not tank fire).  There were incidents where Chinese soldiers fought others trying to flee the city.  The movie is accurate in its depiction of the executions, looting, and rapes except that they were much worse.  The policy was known as the 3 Alls:  kill all, burn all, loot all.  It is estimated that between 40-300,000 Chinese were killed in six weeks.  The sets realistically depict the bombed out, deserted look to the city.  It downplays the looting, burning, and the corpses lying around.  15 of the 22 foreigners in the city set up the International Committee and created the Nanking Safety Zone.  Their leader was John Rabe.  Rabe was a German businessman and although a Nazi, he was against the Anti-Comintern Pact.  He was a Schindler-like figure.  The fact he was a German gave him cachet with the Japanese.  The International Committee agreed that no Chineses soldiers would be allowed in the zone.  They could not turn aside soldiers however and prayed that the fact they were unarmed would dissuade the Japanese. They were wrong.  As shown in the movie, the Japanese came in and checked hands for callouses. Undoubtedly some rickshaw drivers, carpenter, etc. were rounded up for execution.  The Japanese did allow family members to claim one arrestee each.  Many of the “soldiers” were executed along the banks of the Yangtze.  The Japanese did rape a lot of women in the safety zone and at one point came in to demand 100 comfort women.  Vautrin refused, but after 21 women volunteered, the Japanese were satisfied.  The films rendering of the comfort stations is accurate. 

Monday, January 13, 2025

THE 100 BEST WAR MOVIES: 16. Brest Fortress (2010)

 

                “The Brest Fortress” (“Fortress of War”) is a Russian film about the famous defense of Brest Fortress in the opening days of Operation Barbarossa in WWII.  It was directed by Alexander Kott and had strong input from the Brest Fortress Museum.  The film chronicles the defense of four separate strongholds within the fortress.  The movie was made “in memory of the fortress heroes”.

                The movie is told in flashback form based on the memories of a then teenage boy named Sasha (Alexey Kaposhov).  Sasha and his older brother are orphans who are in the Soviet Army and stationed at the fortress.  Besides the fortresses defenders, their families live within the walls.  Life is normal until the German invasion of the Soviet Union takes the fortress completely by surprise.  The first inkling that they are at war is when a savage air bombardment pummels the fortress.  Several buildings are blown up as people run around like chickens with their heads cut off.  Soon after, the German army arrives.   When the civilians attempt to flee, they are machine gunned.  The siege has begun and it will not be the cake walk the Germans anticipated.

                The movie concentrates on the defense of the four strongpoints and the commanders of each.  Political commissar Fomin (Pavel Derevyanko) is in charge of the Kholm Gate.  Regimental commander Gavrilov (Alexander Korshuvov) commands at the Eastern Fort and defense of the 9th Frontier Outpost falls to Lt. Kizhavatov (Andrey Merzlikin).  Another force holds out in a barracks.   The Germans assault all four positions, leading to some intense combat.  The Germans use tanks, artillery, and flamethrowers to try to whittle down the defenders.  Through all this Sasha moves through the maelstrom seeking his girlfriend Anya and taking part in the fighting.  He serves as the framing device as he connects the isolated forces. 

 

ACTING:   A                

ACTION:   A+ (9/10) the only combat is the village assault

ACCURACY:     

PLOT:  A                

REALISM:   A

CINEMATOGRAPHY:   A+

SCORE:   A

SCENE:  the German infantry and tank attack across the field

                I was not familiar with the Defense of Brest Fortress so the movie was not only entertaining, but educational.  I suppose every country its famous ill-fated siege.  Brest Fortress is the Russian equivalent of the Alamo.  Sieges are grist for war movies because of the potential for cinematic drama.  “Brest Fortress” maximizes this by tapping in to the personal elements of the story.  Not only is there the romance between Sasha and Anya, but there is another couple that is tragically impacted by the German assault.  The fact that families were caught in the siege adds a dimension that you don’t get in movies like “The Alamo”.  There is a strong human dimension to the film. Two themes are the brotherhood of the soldiers and their dying for what their country.

 The decision to concentrates on the leaders of the strongpoints was wise.  Each of these characters is distinctive and compelling.  The key to the movie is the Sasha character.  His arc is the glue tying together the various battle sites.  His quest to find his girl friend in the midst of the turmoil brings the audience into the story.  It helps that the acting is solid.  There is no scene chewing.  The dialogue is natural.  This is not a propaganda film.  The Germans are evil, but it is their actions, not the soldiers themselves.  There are no significant German characters in the film to speak of.

                Although the movie does a great job personalizing the siege, the movie is most memorable for its quantity and quality of combat.  The opening air bombardment is the best I have seen.  The first firefight sets the stage with slo-mo, graphic wounds, hand-to-hand, and extreme action.    It reminded me of the Korean style of movies like “Tae Guk Gi”, but it is also similar to the Russian film ”9th  Company”.  There are several frenetic action scenes.  Unlike many war movies, the deaths are not ridiculously unrealistic.  And if you like explosions, this movie blows things up real good.  There is even a two ton kilogram bomb that results in a humongous explosion.  The German use of flamethrowers is not for the squeamish. 

                SPOILER ALERT:  The movie does a great job of retelling the Defense of the Brest Fortress.  This was the first encounter between the Soviets and the German invaders in Operation Barbarossa.  The movie clearly depicts the shameful lack of warning the Soviet defenders got when Stalin had knowledge that the invasion was coming.  The fortress had a garrison of 9,000 men and 300 families.  The air bombardment was devastating and was followed immediately by assault from 20,000 Germans.  The defenders were isolated into the four positions shown in the film.

Friday, January 10, 2025

Carrington V.C. (1954)

 

                “Carrington V.C.” is also known as “Court Martial”.  It is highly regarded by some, although largely forgotten by most.  It was directed by Anthony Asquith (“We Dive at Dawn”).  It was based on a play.  The movie was a hit with British audiences and critics.  It was nominated for BAFTA’s for Best British Film, Best Film From Any Source, Best British Actor (David Niven), and Best British Actress (Noelle Middleton and Margaret Leighton).

                 Major Charles “Copper” Carrington  (Niven) is a war hero who won the Victoria Cross, but there is no war now.  He takes money from his unit’s safe to bet on a horse race that he rides in.  He also goes AWOL to ride in the race.  And to top the charges off, he is accused of conduct unbecoming of an officer.  He had violated an order forbidding men and women from consorting in their rooms.  Carrington had invited the comely and flirtatious Capt. Graham (Middleton) to his room.  Just the kind of scandalous behavior his twit of a superior, Col. Henneger (Allan Cuthbertson, who else? -  Google his picture and you’ll know everything you need to know about his character).  With this set-up the rest of the movie is the trial.  The procedure begins memorably with 25 foot-stompings by Sgt. Crane.  Finally, the judge (on behalf of the audience), tells him to cut that shit out.  From here it is a typical military courtroom drama with a series of witnesses and plot twists.  Henneger takes the stand and lies, of course.  Mrs. Carrington (Leighton) complicates matters because she is mentally unstable and a bitch.

                I guess you have to be British to be impressed by this movie.  The case is not exactly earth-shaking.  And to make matters even more boring, Carrington is guilty.  The acting is fine, but hardly award-worthy.  It is also perplexing that the movie was nominated for Best British Film (“Hobson’s Choice” won).  The dialogue is unexceptional, especially for a courtroom drama.  It does include some lame British humor, which ends with the foot stomping.  A little stomping towards the end of this over-long snoozefest might help keep viewers awake.  Clearly, it is overrated and will not be appearing on my 100 Best list.

GRADE  =  C-