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City of Life and Death
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City of Life and Death

2009
Drama, War
2h 13m
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Avg Percentile 63.92% from 244 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(244)
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Rated 12 Jul 2014
40
12th
It's important that the world knows what the Japanese did in Nanking, of all their many brutal crimes this was biggest.However...I just couldn't stomach 2 hours of mass murder & rape and more to the point it's dull.A poor film doesn't become a good one purely because it's trying to say something important.
Rated 03 Sep 2011
53
41st
Lavishly produced and very aesthetic, with an extraordinarily loose narrative style. Unfortunately all this comes at the expense of literary depth.
Rated 22 Sep 2013
45
6th
Hypocritical, pretentious, and empty. The attempt to cater for west moral was so obvious but ended up being filled with stereotyped images and gaudy scenes. The utilisation of nationalism was so stupidly commercialised but pretend to be noble. This arrogant attitude showed clearly in the movie was really disgusting.
Rated 22 May 2010
58
23rd
In black and white, because... well Schindler's List was in black and white! It's artistic! A passable war dramatization, not helped by the melodramatic acting reminiscent of early sound films of the 30s. Characters could have been developed more, too. The main villain doesn't get his comeuppance. Meh.
Rated 03 Jun 2012
85
89th
A harrowing and unflinching chronicle of human suffering, looking specifically into the atrocities committed in Nanking brought to vivid, compelling detail by Lu Chuan's painstakingly realistic but also poetic style.
Rated 23 Jan 2018
80
74th
A strong chronicle of a little depicted tragedy. Chinese movies have a habit of appearing overly patriotic and portraying the Japanese as evil caricatures, but this one was unbiased enough to cause some serious public outcry in China, I applaud the decision. For all it's merit, there are some poor decisions, the black and white, for one, and a lack of cohesion. The movie jumps around from person to person all with unique stories, making it feel like a list of atrocities, rather than a film.
Rated 09 Nov 2012
4
55th
.....and rape. Lots of rape. A few key scenes strain the believability that this generally succeeds at.
Rated 29 Sep 2012
75
60th
Harrowing. Yet it doesn't really attempt to say much more than 'rape is incredibly disturbing' and 'war is bad, obviously'. Also, because most of the scenes were so harrowing, I attempted to make light of the film, and noted that the Japanese celebration of the 'conquest of Nanking' was similar to a dance from West Side Story...it's effective film making, for sure, try to stop your jaw hitting the floor at most of the 'set pieces', but ultimately, it's nothing you haven't seen before, or want to
Rated 20 Oct 2011
30
78th
"The 1937-38 massacres and rapes in conquered Nanking are dramatized with flawed but unflinching horror in this grim, epic lament." - Bill Weber
Rated 16 Apr 2016
80
80th
I wish the dubbing of the characters who spoke English was better.
Rated 22 Nov 2011
80
80th
Great cinematography and effective.
Rated 14 Oct 2012
80
79th
An excellent and overall well-balanced dramatization of the Nanjing massacre. Should be required viewing in Japanese schools.
Rated 19 Feb 2016
13
69th
Star Rating: ★★★1/2
Rated 09 Feb 2018
40
10th
Disturbing, but hollow. Time would be better spent watching a true documentary of events
Rated 25 Mar 2011
80
91st
Emotionally draining.

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