by Gabriella Apicella

City of Life and Death is set in Nanking in 1937 during the infamous occupation of the then Chinese capital by the Japanese army towards the end of the war between the two countries.

Director Lu Chuan worked on this film for four years as both writer and director. To say that bringing this story to the screen requires skill and sensitivity would be like saying that someone about to do a skydive should have a head for heights. And in some ways, I’m sure Chuan may well have doubted whether his parachute would open. Given the nature of the piece, his bravery in tackling what became known as both The Massacre of Nanking and The Rape of Nanking is enormous.

The film relates stories of a variety of characters experiencing the horror of the six-week period when the Japanese Army terrorised what remained of Nanking. Each story shines a light on the number of brutal aspects of this occupation, that truly made the City a Hell on Earth – and that statement bears no hint of exaggeration.

To a Western audience, who may not have heard of either Nanking or what took place there, I can only ask you to attempt to imagine seeing Schindler’s List without prior knowledge of the Holocaust. I felt completely humbled and embarrassed to have been entirely unaware of these atrocities. Like the Spielberg classic, this film too is shot in black and white – mercifully so, as it would perhaps be unwatchable in colour.

The cinematography has already been honoured at the San Sebastian Golden Shell Awards, and deservedly so. It is spectacular, taking in the epic scale of disaster, as well as intimate moments of tenderness, it takes the time to connect with those on screen – never are the enormous numbers of people simply faceless extras. As seems so easily forgotten in any coverage of or story about war, each person, and each life is of equal importance, and the photography reminds us of this. At the film’s opening, it seems almost too photographic as the shots evoke a montage of still portraits, but as the film continues, the depth of feeling for these anonymous lives is driven by the masterful way in which their images are captured.

This is an extremely difficult piece to watch. The horrors are relentless, and the film shows not so much the City of Life and Death, as the City of Rape and Death. Doubtless it is incredibly important that Lu Chuan has successfully completed this project and he should be commended for producing a film of such sensitivity. However, to talk about the merits of the film exclusively, without taking into account the history upon which it is based, is virtually impossible. There is nothing that could have prepared me for what happens in this film. The brutality, pain, suffering, fear, agony, is beyond my most terrible nightmares.

Having recently watched Antichrist, I was having a discussion with a friend about the nature of on-screen violence, and explained why that film failed to shock me in the way it predictably did the Daily Mail set. In that film the violence is of course symbolic – I understand that Charlotte Gainsbourg is not actually mutilating her own genitalia, nor is she re-enacting a real-life character’s actions, so can sit film-student-like and pontificate on why Lars Von Trier needed to show her doing that for the sake of the story and its deeper meanings. However, for the same reasons that one of the images in The Last King of Scotland remains the most upsetting I have ever seen, the violence in this film becomes unbearable and exhausting to watch because even if these are actors, these things happened, to real people. And for me, that instils a sadness, sickness, anger and hopelessness that no amount of symbolically gruesome acts of torture ever will.

After having also received the Best Film prize at the San Sebastian Awards, perhaps The City of Life and Death will reach an even wider audience than the outraged one it has left in its wake in the Far East. It is dangerous for any population to be left ignorant of the horrors of this world’s history, and whilst it may be deeply unsettling to watch, this is a film that deserves to be seen.