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Cast: Ulrich Tukur, Steve Buscemi, Daniel Brühl, Anne Consigny, Dagmar Manzel, Jingchu Zhang, Teruyuki Kagawa, Mathias Herrmann, Tetta Sugimoto, Akira Emoto
Florian Gallenberger directs this gripping drama about John Rabe (Ulrich Tukur), a German businessman living in Nanking, China, who in 1937 used his Nazi party affiliation to save some 200,000 Chinese civilians from slaughter at the hands of the Japanese army. As Rabe labors to establish an official safety zone to shelter the innocent, he forms an unlikely friendship with an American doctor.
A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38, this is an important film about a little-known catastrophe. I'm sure there's many out there that have either never heard about the Rape of Nanking or know very little about what happened. The film is a personal drama, a war story with thousands of extras, an accurate history lesson founded on diaries and the book, "The Good Man of Nanking" as well as a film that will have you hanging on to your seat the entire time. The film is filled with scenes that are disturbing and brutal and yet it blends them perfectly with more touching, even tender moments. Ulrich Tukur plays Rabe and won the equivalent of the German Academy Award as did the movie, this is a must-see film and an important one. I am not going to sit here and give all the details away but I can say this is a film not only for fan's of war movies but I think it is one that deserves to be seen for it's tragic historical value as well.
The cast here is brilliant, Steve Buscemi superbly plays Dr. Robert Wilson the American doctor who actually founded the hospital in Nanking and worked very closely with Rabe and Ulrich Tukur is simply amazing as Rabe. This a story about an extraordinary man who made a difference. Certainly not an easy film to watch but one that deserves to be seen, I highly recommend picking this up today. You can order the DVD HERE.
Released by Strand Releasing
***** Out Of *****