Last Wednesday, I had the high honor and distinct privilege of a private screening of the recently released Chinese war film "Dead to Rights." Just kidding. I was the only individual in the theater who actually bought a ticket and drove to the movie theater to watch the movie.
The imdb.com summary of the plot:
During the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, postman A. Chang posed as a photo developer, helping Japanese forces while secretly sheltering Chinese refugees. He later risked his life evacuating them and revealing evidence of the atrocities.
As noted, the plot centers around a mailman, A. Chang, who was saved from execution at the hand of a Japanese war photographer, with the help of a nearby Chinese Japanese interpreter, Wang Guanghai, who prevented the murder by falsely indicating that Chang not only knew where a photo developer was, but also was himself a photo developer. The interpreter Wang also gave Chang sufficient time by claiming it would take Chang two full days to develop the film.
During that time, Chang discovered the film developing store owner, his wife, his 10-year-old daughter, and his infant son were hiding in the store.
In the film, Wang had a wife who was a beautiful opera singer, and as far as I could tell, he also had a baby mama and her child.
| Concubines as well as multiple wives were reasonably common in pre-Communist China. |
Where historical accuracy is in the film, the uniforms and the equipment of both sides of the initial battle for Nanjing were accurate. The depiction of the fighting, the subsequent massacres of Chinese POWs and civilians, were quite brutal. If you go see the film, you will be moved by the brutality. I have read the late Iris Chang's book, "The Rape of Nanching" on the massacre, yet, there is no way that the depiction in this film were over the top.
The rest of the plot of the film centers around the theme expressed by the characters, that they were traitors in helping the Japanese develop the photographs of the pogroms against Chinese civilians. Ultimately the plot shifts to the central Chinese characters trying to get passes into the Western and untouched sectors of the city.
There is a problem with the film, however. Like a drunk who can't help to keep his hands off a bottle of booze, the Chinese Communist Party just had to include at the end of the film a message that the Chinese Peoples Army defeated the Japanese, without mention of the half dozen western allies, and primarily the US Navy, which ultimately caused the Japanese empire to collapse.
This message, this zinger, in my opinion, tainted the entire film, cheapening it and the horrific crimes committed against the Chinese people. With this message, I am not even sure that this film would ultimately wind up in Tubi's catalog.
And that's a shame.