Top 10 Nanjing Massacre movies

December 13, 1937, Japanese troop invader occupied Nanjing. In the following six weeks, the Japanese Army committed extremely horrible crimes, murdering innocent people. In Nanjing more than 300,000 innocent citizens and unarmed soldiers were slaughtered. The ancient capital Nanjing suffered an unprecedented catastrophe and was turned into a living hell. Here below are 10 movies about Nanjing Massacre:

1.南京！南京！,City of Life and Death (2009) Director: Lu Chuan Stars: Ye Liu, Wei Fan and Hideo Nakaizumi

City of Life and Death is a 2009 Chinese historical film written and directed by Lu Chuan. The film deals with the Battle of Nanjing and its aftermath (commonly referred to as the “Rape of Nanking” or the “Nanking Massacre”) during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The film is also known as Nanking! Nanking! or Nanjing! Nanjing!.

2.南京浩劫,Purple Mountain(2008) Director: Simon West  Stars: Michelle Yeoh

Personal accounts from the Japanese occupation of Eastern China during the 1930s when many innocent civilians were slaughtered by the Japanese military. Based on Iris Chang’s “The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II”.

3.拉贝日记,John Rabe(2009) Director: Florian Gallenberger Stars: Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Brühl and Steve Buscemi

It focuses upon the experiences of John Rabe, a German businessman who used his Nazi Party membership to create a protective International Safety Zone in Nanking, China, helping to save over 200,000 Chinese from the Nanking Massacre in late 1937 and early 1938. The massacre and its associated atrocities were committed subsequent to the Battle of Nanking by the invading Imperial Japanese Army after they defeated the Chinese Nationalist forces defending the city during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

4.黄石的孩子,The Children of Huang Shi (2008) Director: Roger Spottiswoode Stars: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Radha Mitchell and Yun-Fat Chow

About young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.

5.东京审判,Tokyo Trial (2006) Director: Qunshu Gao Stars:  Joe Bosco, Yongdai Ding and Damian Lau

The Tokyo Trial, a historical film recounting the trial of top Japanese war criminals at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East 60 years ago. The movie focuses on the trial of 28 Japanese war criminals at the end of World War II in 1946 and depicts how the eloquent Mei Ruao, a Chinese judge, charged the Japanese for war crimes, maintaining China’s dignity on the international stage.

6.栖霞寺1937 Qixia Temple 1937 (2004) Director: Jianguo Deng Stars:  Cunxin Pu, Ismael Amodeo and Xinhua Zhang

It tells how an abbot at the temple in Nanjing and his disciples fought the Japanese aggressors and saved tens of thousands of refugees during the Nanjing Massacre between December 1937 and January 1938.

7.五月八月, May and August (2002) Director: Raymond To Stars: Cecilia Yip, Lam Chuen and Lier Qiu

In December of 1937 two young girls aged 9 and 4, May and August, lived blissfully with their parents in Nanjing. Unfortunately, the outbreak of the war totally changed their lives. May’s parents were killed by the Japanese soldiers, and the girls taken to a refugee camp. Once May’s uncle learned of the tragedy, he retrieved the two girls from the camp. But when the Japanese invaders took full control of the city, May and August would then have to learn to be strong to face all the upcoming challenges.

8.黑太阳南京大屠杀, Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre  (1995) Director: Tun Fei Mou Stars: Liang Zhang, Yung Pan and Shao-tien Hsiung Black Sun.

The Nanking Massacre, also called Men Behind the Sun 4, is a 1994 Hong Kong film directed by Mou Tun Fei and is in many ways considered to be a follow up to the 1987 shockumentary film, Men Behind the Sun. The movie depicts the events behind the Nanking Massacre committed by the Imperial Japanese army against Chinese citizens and refugees during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

9.南京1937,Don’t Cry, Nanking(1995) Director: Wu Ziniu Stars: Han Chin, Ai Saotome and Rene Liu

A brutally honest portrait of the horrors of war, Don’t Cry, Nanking follows a Chinese doctor and his Japanese wife as they flee from their home when Japanese soldiers begin raping and torturing the locals.

10.屠城血证,Massacre in Nanjing(1987) Director: Luo Guanjun  Stars: Daoming Chen, Kesheng Lei, Danping Shen

A Chinese doctor puts his life on line to record on camera Japanese atrocities.