Thursday, February 07, 2008

Nanking

http://nankingthefilm.com/

This is easily the most upsetting thing I’ve seen on the silver screen in some time. I had already read Iris Chang’s instant classic, The Rape of Nanking, and knew what to expect, but this film destroyed me nevertheless. Not for the faint of heart, but really everyone should see the movie if only to understand the extreme inhumanity of which man is frighteningly capable.

And speaking of Iris Chang, when her name appeared at the end of the movie I failed to suppress tears. Her suicide remains one of the saddest mysteries I can imagine. Truly everything the 1937 occupation of Nanking touches, regardless of time and place, is forever altered.