In 1937, the bustling metropolis of Nanking, then the capital of China, was invaded and occupied by the Japanese military, which reduced much of the city to rubble and brutally raped, tortured and massacred hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants. The event came to be known in history books and in lore as The Rape of Nanking.
The documentary "Nanking" not only recounts the unspeakable atrocities that occurred during that period but focuses on four Westerners living in the city at the time who, at great risk to their own welfare and safety, helped to save over 200,000 refugees and residents by carving out a "safe zone" in the middle of town where people could flee for shelter and protection. These heroic individuals included three Americans and one European: the missionary George Fitch, the surgeon Bob Wilson, the dean of the Gingling Girls' College Minnie Vautrin, and the German businessman (and, at that time, member of the Nazi Party) John Rabe.
The movie relies on amazing archival footage - much of it furtively spirited out of the country by those who shot it - interviews with aging survivors and enemy perpetrators, and readings taken from actual journal and diary entries by the Westerners to tell its story. The last are performed by professional actors - among them, Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway and Jurgen Prochnow - who, seated in folding chairs, take on the roles of the writers.
The result is an eye-opening and heartbreaking look at both the best and the worst that the human race has to offer.
The documentary "Nanking" not only recounts the unspeakable atrocities that occurred during that period but focuses on four Westerners living in the city at the time who, at great risk to their own welfare and safety, helped to save over 200,000 refugees and residents by carving out a "safe zone" in the middle of town where people could flee for shelter and protection. These heroic individuals included three Americans and one European: the missionary George Fitch, the surgeon Bob Wilson, the dean of the Gingling Girls' College Minnie Vautrin, and the German businessman (and, at that time, member of the Nazi Party) John Rabe.
The movie relies on amazing archival footage - much of it furtively spirited out of the country by those who shot it - interviews with aging survivors and enemy perpetrators, and readings taken from actual journal and diary entries by the Westerners to tell its story. The last are performed by professional actors - among them, Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway and Jurgen Prochnow - who, seated in folding chairs, take on the roles of the writers.
The result is an eye-opening and heartbreaking look at both the best and the worst that the human race has to offer.