Directed by:
Chuan LuScreenplay:
Chuan LuCinematography:
Yu CaoCast:
Ye Liu, Yuanyuan Gao, Hideo Nakaizumi, Wei Fan, Yiyan Jiang, Ryu Kohata, John Paisley, Bin Liu, Sam Voutas, Beverly Peckous, Yūko Miyamoto, Junichi Kajioka (more)Plots(1)
Within the scope of Asian history, few events carry the ugly and sickening connotations of the Rape of Nanking. Japanese forces invaded that Chinese city on December 9, 1937, and in the six weeks to follow, soldiers raped thousands of women and annihilated hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Director Lu Chuan directs this black-and-white docudrama account of that horrifying six-week period, with the benefit of an ensemble cast that includes Hideo Nakaizumi as a conscience-stricken Japanese soldier, Fan Wei as the aid to a German humanitarian worker, and Gao Yuanyuan as the head of a refugee camp. Lu relays the events directly and straightforwardly, with a careful avoidance of sensationalism and excessive sentimentality, and uses the chronicle to meditate on the insanity of war for all of those involved. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Ye Liu
China
Best movies:
City of Life and Death (2009)
Postmen in the Mountains (1999)
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002)
Yuanyuan Gao
China
Best movies:
City of Life and Death (2009)
Ocean Heaven (2010)
But Always (2014)
Hideo Nakaizumi
Japan
Best movies:
City of Life and Death (2009)
Who's Camus Anyway (2005)
An End to Killing (2013)
Wei Fan
China
Best movies:
City of Life and Death (2009)
The Road (2006)
If You Are the One (2008)
Yiyan Jiang
China
Best movies:
City of Life and Death (2009)
Reign of Assassins (2010)
The Bullet Vanishes (2012)
Ryu Kohata
Best movies:
City of Life and Death (2009)
Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
Samurai Marathon (2019)
John Paisley
Best movies:
Fearless (2006)
City of Life and Death (2009)
Last Hour (2008)
Bin Liu
Best movies:
City of Life and Death (2009)
Sam Voutas
Australia
Best movies:
City of Life and Death (2009)
Beverly Peckous
Best movies:
City of Life and Death (2009)
Yūko Miyamoto
Japan
Best movies:
City of Life and Death (2009)
Rain Fall (2009)
Junichi Kajioka
Japan
Best movies:
City of Life and Death (2009)
Devils on the Doorstep (2000)
The Flowers of War (2011)
Lan Qin
China
Best movies:
City of Life and Death (2009)
The Founding of a Party (2011)
Raging Fire (2021)