Hey folks. Capone in Chicago here, with a review of a film making its way across the country, shaking up audiences as it goes.

I know far too many people who won't go to a particular movie--be it feature or documentary--because they don't relish the idea of paying money to have a film bum them out. I don't say this much, but fuck anyone with that attitude. Nobody likes to be bummed out, but good movies should bum you out, especially if the subjects are difficult to deal with and sometimes soul crushingly tragic. With more recent genocidal events in the Eastern Europe and Africa thankfully making headlines more and more often these days, the subject of the first modern instance of rape, torture, mutilation and wholesale execution as official military or government policy has come to light.

The late Iris Chang addressed the Nanking situation in her book “The Rape of Nanking,” a feature film on the subject is in some stage of production, and now filmmakers Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman have added sometimes-shocking visuals to the story of the Japanese army's terror campaign through several cities in China, including Nanking. Since many Westerners lived and worked in the city, they took it upon themselves to save and protect as many innocent Chinese citizens as they could, and the resulting film is one of the best documentaries I've seen in the last year.

Since the film relies heavily on letters and diary entries of these Westerners to tell its story, it would seem natural that the filmmakers would use actors to read these documents. But the directors use the curious, but far more engaging approach of having the actors (including Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway, Stephen Dorff, Chris Mulkey and Jurgen Prochnow) onscreen in costume looking at the camera as they recite. Its cumulative effect is much like a table read, but somehow being able to look these people in the eyes makes the whole experience seem all the more real and horrific. Combined with some truly painful and sickening photographs (why do these people love to document their atrocities?), these voices from the past give Nanking a weight that no feature film is capable of (we'll find out soon enough, since a feature film based on Chang's book is in the making).

One of the more interesting facts that comes out of this film is that the Westerners in Nanking might have easily been enemies under different circumstances. There were missionaries, teachers, and most fascinatingly, a Nazi businessman, who may have had more to do with saving lives than any outsider in the conflict. Perhaps most shocking are interviews with some surviving Japanese soldiers (quite elderly when the interviews were conducted), who practically joke about beheadings, mass executions and rape. You would expect them to hide behind the "following orders" defense or deny they took part in some of the horrific behavior, and while they fall short of seeming proud of their behavior, they don't exact hang their heads in shame either.

NANKING is powerful, moving, and yes, often quite depressing, account of the world at its worst, which is the exact reason you should take time out from seeing MAD MONEY or 27 DRESSES and take an active role in making certain occurrences like this stop happening today. Don't be afraid to learn, but more than that, don't be afraid to let a film touch you emotionally.

Capone