The film John Rabe is movie about two things, both interesting, both unknown, and both controversial: the "good" Nazi, and the Rape of Nanking. There have only been a few films about "good" Nazis that I know of, although I'm sure there are others I'm missing, this film, Seven Years in Tibet, and the 49th Parallel. This alone makes this film interesting.
But John Rabe (the film) is also about the Rape of Nanking, the atrocities committed by the Japanese military to the Chinese people in the city of Nanking. This also would be enough to make this movie interesting.
So we have a movie with two interesting topics, but ultimately fails as a compelling work. Why? The director pulled far too many punches in regards to the violence of Nanking. Maybe I'm a little hardened by watching films, but there was nothing about this movie that jumped out at me and drove home the lawlessness and violence of the Japanese occupation of Nanking. There is no way to show this and be discreet. The middle of the film was crying for a lurid montage of gang rapes, flies on corpses, and the worst depravities you can think of. John Rabe's own diaries describe many of these, you wouldn't have even had to think up any of your own and you could have had his character narrated the whole thing.
The film fails in depicting the Rape of Nanking, but it also fails in depicting the good Nazi too. The movie needed a moment, several years later, with John Rabe confronting the Nazi atrocities in WWII and comparing them with the Japanese atrocities in Nanking. We need to see him understand what his own people have done and what his membership in the Nazi party truly means as a stain on his character. We needed to see him understand that and tear up his membership card or something. We, however, do not and the movie is much the poorer because of it.
Despite this, the movie is still beautifully shot, with good production value, limited but effective CGI, and wonderfully acted. The movie is ultimately frustratingly incomplete and is not the best that could have been done with the material, but it was enjoyable while it lasted.
But John Rabe (the film) is also about the Rape of Nanking, the atrocities committed by the Japanese military to the Chinese people in the city of Nanking. This also would be enough to make this movie interesting.
So we have a movie with two interesting topics, but ultimately fails as a compelling work. Why? The director pulled far too many punches in regards to the violence of Nanking. Maybe I'm a little hardened by watching films, but there was nothing about this movie that jumped out at me and drove home the lawlessness and violence of the Japanese occupation of Nanking. There is no way to show this and be discreet. The middle of the film was crying for a lurid montage of gang rapes, flies on corpses, and the worst depravities you can think of. John Rabe's own diaries describe many of these, you wouldn't have even had to think up any of your own and you could have had his character narrated the whole thing.
The film fails in depicting the Rape of Nanking, but it also fails in depicting the good Nazi too. The movie needed a moment, several years later, with John Rabe confronting the Nazi atrocities in WWII and comparing them with the Japanese atrocities in Nanking. We need to see him understand what his own people have done and what his membership in the Nazi party truly means as a stain on his character. We needed to see him understand that and tear up his membership card or something. We, however, do not and the movie is much the poorer because of it.
Despite this, the movie is still beautifully shot, with good production value, limited but effective CGI, and wonderfully acted. The movie is ultimately frustratingly incomplete and is not the best that could have been done with the material, but it was enjoyable while it lasted.