The movie is based on Yan Geling’s novel of the same name. In 1937, Nanjing was captured by the Japanese army, and a dozen schoolgirls and a dozen prostitutes took refuge in a church. The Japanese army forced the schoolgirls to sing in a celebration of the Japanese army, and the prostitutes, in order to protect the schoolgirls, collectively pretended to be the schoolgirls and went to the celebration in their stead; the priest then fled Nanjing by hiding the schoolgirls in a truck.
There is a lot of shooting of civilians in the movie, when in fact, civilians should not be shot in modern warfare.
Civilians are protected by international law, including surrendered soldiers wounded in war, as long as they have ceased their combat behavior.
Shooting civilians is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and constitutes a war crime.
2011 / Mainland China Hong Kong, China / Drama Historical War / Zhang Yimou / Christian Bale Ni Ni
In 1937, the Japanese army invaded Nanjing. During the war, the ancient capital of six dynasties was reduced to ruins and many Chinese soldiers and civilians were trapped in the city.
Under the command of Instructor Li (Tong Dawei), a ten-strong remnant of the National Army’s German armament instruction unit rescues a group of church school girls from the Japanese, while Instructor Li and others lose their chance to leave the city.
Fortunately, Shu Juan (played by Zhang Xinyi) and other students returned to Winchester Church, along with them, and the American John Miller (Christian Bale ChristianBale), who was hired to collect the priest’s remains from afar.
At this point in the city of Nanking, people fleeing the city are swarming into safe zones and churches in search of shelter. Fourteen windswept women force their way into the church to take refuge, with one of them, Yumo (Ni Ni), who is fluent in English, hoping to leverage John’s identity to provide more protection for the group.
The walls of the church will not be able to stop the iron hooves of the Japanese army, and the people inside the church will be faced with the choice of life or death. ……
