Thesis Statement
The film City of Life and Death is a Chinese movie based on a true story. Produced by the China Film Group and directed by Lu Chuan, the movie was produced in the year 2009. It managed to record good sales within the first two weeks of its release. The movie is based on the Sino-Japanese war between 1937-1941 when the Japanese Royal Forces fought to take over and colonize China as part of the strategic move to access China’s mineral resources.
The movie is specifically based on the events that happened during the capture of Nanjing city, which was by then China’s capital city. The events that happened then underscore the historical Nanjing massacre and the director of the film sought to play out the historical events of the war (He, 2007).
The film can be described as a piece of art meant to enhance nationalism in the Chinese people by showing them what their ancestors went through to keep China as an independent state. This paper examines the different elements that have been used in the movie and how such elements have contributed to the development of the movie.
Introduction
The City of Life and Death is a story of events that happened when the city of Nanjing was captured by the Japanese forces. The movie tells a story of the massacre of both Chinese men and women with an estimated 300000 unarmed civilians being systematically killed by the Japanese occupation forces (Lu, 2009).
The plot of the film hinges on the City of Nanjing in the year 1937, and it starts with a Japanese attack that leads to a few Chinese soldiers deserting their positions. As Lu, one of the Chinese army leaders tries to get out stopping the deserters from taking off, the Japanese forces that have surrounded the city capture him. This event marks the capture and eventual takeover of a city that is previously under siege.
The Japanese army wipes out the small resistance from a band of Chinese fighters and firmly takes control of the city. The Japanese forces the roundup men believed to be former fighters before leading them out of the city for execution. The soldiers then assemble and place women under their watch to act as ‘comfort women.
’ The Japanese soldiers rape a majority of the captured women upon which most of them die due to the torture that they undergo in the process.
Themes
Compassion
The Japanese army operates under a man called Kadokawa, who in spite of leading a ruthless and heartless army, is full of compassion. This aspect stands out when Kadokawa falls in love with a Japanese prostitute whom he buys gifts and promises to marry her (Lu, 2009). He does not do this for love, but rather out of pity for the woman due to what he thinks is an inhuman life that she is living.
On the other hand, Yuriko, the Japanese prostitute, finds a haven in the situation as it is a source of income for her, and thus she refuses his offer for freedom. Nevertheless, Kadokawa promises to marry her after the war, but he finds her dead when the war ends.
Compassion is evident again in Kodakawa when he develops an interest in a Chinese woman named Xiaojiang, who volunteers as one of the many comfort women as demanded by Colonel Ida of the Japanese army. When Kodakawa brings her rice, he finds another soldier raped her, and in the end, she dies among many other comfort women who had been taken in by the Japanese army.
War and Suffering
The movie brings out the theme of war and suffering by depicting the inhuman activities that happen during the war. The picture of women, children, old people, and the wounded comes out conspicuously when hordes of Chinese families are subjected to hunger and torture by the occupation army. The movie highlights the suffering that innocent people go through during a war.
In the movie, the only place that offers solace in the safety zone, which is run by a German called Rabe (Lu, 2009). The safety zone is the only place of hope for the Chinese, but it still comes under heavy attack from the Japanese who invade it frequently to look for former Chinese fighters who might have escaped to the facility.
During the war, Germany is the greatest ally of the Chinese resistance movement, and thus, it helps in training and equipping the Chinese resistance movement against the Japanese (He, 2007). In one scene, a Japanese soldier throws Tang’s daughter out of the window, but Tang is not in a position to save his daughter though he is in a privileged position working at the safety zone.
Sexual Violence
The theme of sexual violence comes out when the Japanese army demands the services of comfort women. The women are repeatedly raped, and some are shot dead as part of the violence. The men who would have been the women’s defenders are first taken out and executed, thus leaving the women on their own. When Jing rescues more than one Chinese man by playing tricks, a Japanese soldier points her out, thus leading to her arrest (He, 2007).
Therefore, knowing that she is going to be raped, she pleads with Kodakawa to shoot her instead. This aspect is one way for the woman to preserve her honor by dying rather than undergoing rape. The movie portrays sexual violence as a tool of war.
Conflict
The movie is full of conflicting situations that tend to build tension in the audience. This scenario plays out as it is contrary to the audience’s expected flow of thought and mind. Conflict in a movie elicits suspense in the mind of a person watching the movie as it creates a situation that is deemed contrary to the norms. Usually, when, watching a movie, the storyline develops in the early stages of the movie, and this aspect creates an expected flow of play.
Therefore, when a conflicting situation occurs, it creates suspense that leads to curiosity from the viewer, thus attaching the viewer to the movie in a bid to find out what would happen next. Conflict comes out in this movie when against expectation, Kodakawa acts indifferently of his mandate.
He initially falls in love with a Chinese woman and tries to do her a favor (Lu, 2009). This occurrence is against expectation because, in essence, he is supposed to punish the woman. Conflict occurs again when he lets go, two Chinese men, that he is supposed to execute. The gist of the movie is oppression, but these acts are contrary to the expected outcome of the movie.
Setting
The movie is shot in an old town as a way of bringing out the true picture of the time when the war broke out. The city of Tianjin is full of old buildings that date back to over 200 years. This aspect gives a better picture of the 1930s and 1940s. The use of an old city connects the viewer with the time that the movie is portraying, which is complemented by the tools and costumes found in the movie. The uniforms used by the soldiers, the guns, the trucks, and the civilians’ dressing mode in the movie take the viewer back to the past. This connection is perfect as it makes the movie a success. It also paints the gloomy picture of war as destroyed buildings lurk in the background.
Conclusion
The City of Life and Death is a historical film that creates a flashback of war situations before the Second World War. It paints the picture of how far China has come from the grips of an aggressive imperialist neighbor, Japan, to become one of the economic giants to reckon with in contemporary times. The production of the movie dwells on many themes that come out during war times and the turmoil that society undergoes when a war breaks out.
Historic movies like City of Life and Death are meant to enlighten the contemporary generations on the historical occurrences as a way of making people appreciate the freedoms that they enjoy during their time. In Chinese terms, such a movie could be described as nationalistic as it portrays the suffering that the people experienced in the quest for emancipation.
References
He, Y. (2007). History, Chinese Nationalism and the Emerging Sino-Japanese Conflict. Journal of Contemporary China, 16(50), 1-24.
Lu, C. (Executive Producer). (2009). City of Life and Death [Film]. Beijing, China: China Film Group.