Eye Candy #386 - "Nanking"

Nanking: This film is a documentary based in part on the book "The Rape of Nanking" by the late Iris Chang about the Japanese attack and pillage of the city of Nanking, China, in 1937. The disputed death toll is between 75,000-250,000 depending on who you listen to. While that number is large in its own right, what makes Nanking a tragedy was the time it took (a mere 6 weeks; if the Germans killed Jews as efficiently as the Japanese did Chinese in Nanking, to the tune of 6,000 a day, the death toll for the Holocaust would have been much, much greater) and the brutality involved. There was widespread rape of women and girls, torture and murder of civilians, the mass bayoneting, shooting, and immolation of unarmed Chinese POWs, and at least one documented beheading contest between two Japanese officers. The film is a combination of actors portraying the parts of several Westerners in Nanking at the time (some of whom were responsible for saving the lives of thousands of Chinese), Japanese soldiers, and Chinese civilians. There are also interviews with Chinese survivors, as well as film reel footage of victims taken at the time, most of which is horrific (if you have ever wanted to see the survivor of an attempted beheading, this film has it). Woodchuck sez, "Well made and worth watching."