MovieChat Forums > John Rabe (2009) Discussion > Disappointing (spoilers)

Disappointing (spoilers)

posted 12 years ago by mthatcher61
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I thought the movie was a poor historical portrayal of the Rape of Nanking. Some of the drama was so contrived I found it insulting at points. I thought it took too many liberties with the true story and tried to make the movie more 'dramatic'.
For instance,
The whole subplot of Rabe's wife being on the Panay when it was sunk, and then the deliberate holding back of the information of her survival was silly and unnecessary. It was totally contrived.
The shooting of the two rapists by the little boy, then the transport of the fathers body out to the woods for burial (Really? a girl wearing a Japanese Lieutenants uniform, pulling a cart with a dead man in it and a little boy in tow, going all the way through the city, and out into the woods, burying him, and then returning and not being challenged or accosted by sentry's or patrols?) Then the filling of crater holes with bodies so roads will become passable (in the middle of the night?) and the girl is finally asked a question by a soldier, then she runs and leads him to a girls college, throws the uniform in the stove (leather burning wouldn't create an undeniable odor or cause suspicion in the dorm room?) Then the soldier ordering the other soldiers out when the girls stripped? I doubt very highly Japanese soldiers would have cared about impropriety or the modesty of the school girls. There was so much wrong about this scene I cant begin to list the improbabilities. First off, if the kid picked up the gun and shot two soldiers, wouldn't there have been horrible repercussions on the population. I shudder to think what the Japanese would have done. Doubtful a little kid could shoot that well. Doubtful after the first was killed the other soldier would stand and wait for his bullet. Doubtful the uniform would have fit the girl so well. Doubtful it would not have looked strange, a Japanese Lt pulling a dead Chinese in a cart through the city streets, with a little boy in tow. Doubtful they could dig a grave and not get dirty...witho9ut a shovel...in winter...in the frozen ground...and then have the nerve to not escape and get the hell as far away from the city, but to go back into the city and more or less ask for more. Doubtful. Its doubtful the Japanese would try to fill bomb craters with bodies, they rot and pretty much squish underneath trucks and tanks. Japanese are pretty clever, they use stones or rubble, it works better. Doubtful they would be doing it in the middle of the night, if they were going to do it , they'd do it in the day. Japs weren't afraid of peoples disapproval, they would have reveled in it. Doubtful that the girl could have outrun bullets, any other time in the movie Japs are shown as dead shots, but when it comes time to shoot a heroine, they miss every time..Doubtful. Then, the girl leading rapists and murders into a school of young women, doubtful, then the search of the college for the girl dressed as a soldier, and they didnt notice the smell of burning leather, or the girl ho would have been covered in sweat and breathing hard, they wouldnt have picked up on that...OR FOUND THE 800 SOLDIERS hiding in the attic!! Just thinking about how stupid this whole scene was just pisses me off.

One of the silliest parts of the whole movie is the idea that the governess was hiding 800 Chinese soldiers at the girls school, the Japanese find out about it, a major warns Rabe, and then civilians create a human shield around the zone that the Japanese wont go through. The human shield had un unusually high proportion of soldier age men, (maybe it was the actual hidden soldiers disguised in civilian clothes, the Japanese are way too stupid to ever figure that one out...), if that isn't bad enough, just when the Japanese are locked and loaded, and ready to fire, in the nick of time, to save the day, international reporters arrive by boat and the Japanese are too afraid to be caught killing civilians, (when 800 soldiers are hiding nearby....doubtful. That was so stupid and implausible I found it offensive. It was such a contrived 'Hollywood' moment (funny when Hollywood had nothing to do with the production of this movie) I found it insulting to my intelligence.
Finally the ending goodby scene, could they have tried to copy Schindler's list anymore? All the people turn out to pay respects to the men, shouting 'Rabe' 'Rabe'... Really, it happened just like that? And the Japanese didn't mind, or start firing into would could obviously have been a possibly very dangerous crowd? It was like something out of a movie...oh that's right, it was a movie.

If you want to see something a little closer to reality then see 'City of Life and Death'. At least they didnt try to turn what was one of the most tragic episodes of WWII into a cartoon. I know this movie obviously had a purpose, but it wasn't to portray actual events with the dignity and solemnity they deserved.

[–] fredbel6 11 years ago

I agree but you forgot some things....where are those 200,000 people?? We never get to see the scale of that zone. We do see that it is run by half a dozen of westerners...

Another thing that bothered me is the almost complete lack of non-western characters. We have that schoolgirl, but as you said, that's a weird plot.

[–] scarlettsdad 10 years ago

You have many totally valid points and I also agree "The City of Life and Death" was a far superior film. According to Iris Chang's brilliant book, "The Rape of Nanking," there were a number of Chinese soldiers hiding at the school but they were discovered and executed. Victims were put in holes so vehicles could roll over them, but also doubt this was done at night as the Japanese weren't shy about their atrocities. Agree the additions for dramatic effect weren't necessary, as this film could have been as good as "Schindler's List" without changing much of the real story.