City of Life And Death

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All Forums >> [Film Forums] >> Film Reviews >> City of Life And Death

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City of Life And Death - 21/5/2010 10:56:53 PM

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- 21/5/2010 10:56:54 PM

kojaksmoneybox

Posts: 10
Joined: 22/9/2009

Whilst the atrocities of the 1937 invasion of Nanking can never be put on screen (for the full, appalling details, read The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang), City of Life and Death comes as close as can be expected to showing the true horror. Mentioning Schindler's List is inevitable, from the involvement of John Rabe (a kind of Schindler to the Chinese) to the stunning use of black and white. City of Life and Death doesn't quite hold the power of Schindler's List, but is arguably the finest war depiction since that other Spielberg classic, Saving Private Ryan. A powerful, difficult film to watch, but somehow you owe it to yourself to tough it out.

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- 30/8/2010 6:50:11 PM

gzus

Posts: 49
Joined: 4/10/2009
From: Middle Earth, Brum

Astonishing film by Lu Chuan. Pictured in black and white, many scenes are quite breathtaking in their sadness. A dream-like, action-packed war film that takes an audience in too close at times to the atrocities committed by the Japanese army, though it never judges, showing incidents from both sides. For example, the Japanese troops are genuinely delighted by their achievements in Nanking, by their swift invasion of a capital in less than 3 days.

There are many touching characters, but no more so than the little boy that is there from the beginning. It's here that Lu Chuan captures the beauty of life in what is an unbearably painful story.

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