The chinese equivalent of Klimov’s masterpiece Come & See.
To be clear: this is not another chinese war drama. And even though it’s about the Nanking massacre conducted by the Japanese Army in 1937, it carefully avoids the pitfalls of propaganda: no patriotism, no victimization.
City of Life and Death reveals what men can do at war. How they can lose their humanity, falling into madness, where moral boundaries no longer apply.
It starts like a solid war movie and turns into a breathtaking drama. After some well-done action sequences, the city of Nanking becomes hell on earth. And you’ll experience this tragedy through various characters; chinese, japanese, german…
All are forced to do whatever they can to survive. No bad guys, no good guys, just lost souls. Around them, nothing but ruins, desperation, horror and death; hanging heads in the streets, wounded soldiers executed…
For example: If you’ve seen Suzuki’s Story of a Prostitute, you might be more than surprised to discover the daily life of Nanking’s “comfort women”; lying on the bed, legs wide opened, they’re just waiting to die. Nothing romantic nor beautiful. Nope.
Handheld camera brings realism to this (real) tragedy, and the various points of views try to keep it unbiased. But eventually, it may also become confusing, because there’s too much characters & information introduced in a short time.
In any case, City of Life and Death is one of the best recent Chinese film. Don’t miss it.
# TL/DR
+ Chinese cinema at its best
+ Disturbing & powerful experience
+ Realism
+ CGI-free: ruins are for real!
+ Final crazy parade (clip)
- Confusing narrative
= 9/10
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Best film of 2009. Comparison is apt, as this is the best war film I’ve seen since Klimov’s masterpiece. Outstanding transfer on the Blu ray. Don’t bother with the DVD.
one of the best of last year,
too bad it was overlook in some awards
really hard to watch too!
a single tear kept rolling down
in hard to watch scenes…
I don’t know if I’ll be able to watch it twice xD