Japan showing for Nanjing movie
Print Edition
Chinese director Lu Chuan hopes his 2009 movie 鈥淐ity of Life and Death鈥 will help Japanese viewers have a better understanding of World War II when it is shown online.
Japan鈥檚 largest online video platform niconico.jp is planning to show a series of documentaries and movies to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. On its list are Chinese documentaries 鈥淵asukuni鈥 and 鈥淣anking,鈥 based on Iris Chang鈥檚 book 鈥淭he Rape of Nanking,鈥 and Lu鈥檚 drama 鈥淐ity of Life and Death.鈥
Lu鈥檚 film focuses on the Nanjing Massacre in 1937.
鈥淚 would like to speak for our nation with the film,鈥 he said.
鈥淚t is special to me,鈥 added Lu, who attended college in Nanjing, capital of east China鈥檚 Jiangsu Province. 鈥淚t has been my hope that Japanese people would have a chance to watch it.鈥
The director was surprised when he heard about the video platform鈥檚 plans. 鈥淚 know it could be very difficult,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e even sent copies to some Japanese officials, but we were told about obstruction from right-wing groups.鈥
Lu said he spent three years doing research before making the film, and found himself 鈥渁wed by the cruelty of the war. It unleashed the darkness inside people鈥檚 hearts.鈥
Four years ago, the movie had two screenings in a Tokyo cinema where some 1,000 tickets were sold out.
鈥淢ore than 40 police officers and several police cars were there in case right-wing extremists made trouble,鈥 he said. But the film proved a success with viewers of all generations. A student surnamed Takemura told him that her grandfather was a soldier in Nanjing. Before he passed away, the old man told Takemura that the war had turned men into beasts.
鈥淪ome scenes in the movie were familiar, just as he had told me,鈥 she said.
A Ms Yamaguchi told Lu that Japanese people should reflect on the past, and maintain good relationships with neighboring countries. Even Suzuki Kunio, senior adviser to Issuikai, a right-wing association that denies Japanese war crimes, watched the film and discussed it with Lu. 鈥淗e compared the movie to a textbook, and said Japanese people should watch it,鈥 Lu said.
The director has made many trips to Japan and has friends there, but there are still many people unaware of the history.
A man once told him that the number of victims in Nanjing couldn鈥檛 be as many as 300,000.
鈥淚 told him that the focus of the film was the fact, rather than the number. I also told him that questions could exist, but couldn鈥檛 be raised by the perpetrators, just as German historians would not question the number of Jewish victims in World War II.鈥
Lu believes that there are not enough exchanges between Chinese and Japanese people.
鈥淲e should understand each other better,鈥 Lu said.
The showing of his film by niconico.jp is a good step along the way, he said.
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