Lu Chuan’s harrowing portrayal of the Nanking Massacre is the sort of filmmaking Hollywood usually doesn’t feel comfortable making. Shot entirely in monochrome and bereft of musical accompaniment, City of Life and Death makes for unpleasant yet to some extent necessary viewing, as Chuan exposes his audience to the Japanese’ systematic rape and subsequent slaughter of the inhabitants of Nanking, an event that is often overshadowed by World War II. While it would be easy to tag it as a Chinese Schindler’s List, the film’s sole shortcoming is the absence of a commanding protagonist for us to identify with.
4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment