Review for City Of War: The Story of John Rabe

Introduction

War and circumstance sometimes make heroes out of those you would never consider. Late 1937 saw the Japanese invade and rape the Chinese city of Nanking, the old capital of the Republic of China, and massacre in excess of some 300,000 Chinese men, women and children. It is also estimated that somewhere between 20,000 and 80,000 females were raped during this same period. The whole incident around the massacres in Nanking are still very much controversial and still hinder Sino-Japanese relations, with the Japanese keen to gloss over these events.

One man came to the fore during this period of terror within Nanking, a man named John Rabe. Rabe was a member of the Nazi Party, believed in National Socialism and was the head of Siemens in the region. He was there to build an engineering presence and hoped to create a dam that would provide his legacy. This was not to be, but instead he forged a much different legacy and one that thousands of Chinese citizens would be eternally grateful for.

The Japanese Imperial Army was on the march towards Nanking and Japanese aircraft are soon making their presence felt by strafing and bombing the city, including attempts near to the Siemens plant. Rabe initially allows a number of Chinese shelter within his compound under the protection of the swastika, which overflying Japanese aircraft recognise and cease attack in accord with the German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact.

With the Chinese Government and officials fleeing the city, a number of remaining foreigners, a mix of missionaries, doctors and businessmen decide to form an International Committee for the Safey of Nanking and propose a safety zone to the invading Japanese forces. Rabe is reluctantly elected as head of the committee, mainly in recognition of his status as a member of the Nazi Party and therefore more likely to get agreement from the Japanese as an ally.

The Safety Zone was agreed and despite initial plans to house just 100,000 people within the Zone, this number soon became 200, 000 and problems would eventually occur with the supply of both food and medicine. The Committee also trod a fine line as no Chinese military personnel were allowed in the Zone, a rule broken by the committee who hid a large number of Chinese soldiers who would simply have been executed for the sake of it by the Japanese.

A confrontation and possible sacking of the Safety Zone was coming…

Audio

Choice of both 5.1 Surround and 2.00 Stereo soundtracks, the 5.1 is pretty immersive without being too impressive. Good enough for the job it needs to do with some nice touches from the rear speakers.

As with many Metrodome films these days, the dialogue is multi-lingual so you don't have to suspend disbelief about everyone understanding one another. Sadly, as per many Metordome films, the subtitles only cover the non-English dialogue whereas they should cover all dialogue for the hard of hearing. Subtitles are also only in English, which is yet another Metrodome failing.

Extras

Making Of - more substantial than usual Making Of featurette that touches of both the advantages and disadvantages of filming in China. Also covers the views of the Japanese actors who felt it was important to make this film and also on how well Steve Buscemi fit in with the largely unknown ensemble cast.

Trailer

Overall

Now here's a story that doesn't appear to be well-known. John Rabe was the Chinese equivalent of Oskar Schindler, saving hundreds of thousands of Chinese lives from an ally of his country. Metrodome have an increasingly good reputation for foreign war films and interesting biographical pieces during periods of conflict. City of War is no exception.

The film is a masterful example of an ensemble cast and a quality production, with Ulrich Tukur superb in the title role with a surprising support role taken by Steve Buscemi. There are a number of strong performances in this international co-production by European, Japanese and Chinese actors. There are quite high production values on this film and some CGI, some of the latter working better than others but all acceptable on the budget as nothing is too glaring or too perfect.

So can a Nazi also be a humanitarian? Apparently so, although the depiction of John Rabe here is more of a businessman who has joined the party out of national loyalty than fanaticism. This is amply demonstated by the inclusion of his planned replacement in Werner Fließ, a dedicated Nazi in the more usual mould. It is clear that Rabe is very much a company man who is loath to change or break the rules, in a slightly amusing scene he shows his wife that he has moved a number of Chinese refugees from the Siemens compound into his garden within the compound. The reason? He would need company permission to allow the refugees to stay where they were. It's amazing really how common sense can be overruled by a bureaucratic attitude even in the tensest of situations…

It's worth noting that Rabe attempted to contact Hitler by letter to let him know about the Japanese atrocities and that when Rabe eventually returned to Germany, he was arrested by the Gestapo and forced to be silent about his Nanking experience. After the war his status as a member of the Nazi party was used to denounce him and even though he was eventually de-nazified, ended his life in poverty with little recognition for what he had achieved bar food supplied to him by a grateful Chinese nation.

Rabe's house has been turned into a museum in China as recognition for his humanitarian work and is a real hero to the Chinese people. This is one of those stories that really needs to be told in recognition that even during a nation's darkest hour, there was a light struggling to be seen…