John Rabe

source: John Rabe

Some people think this movie is not as good as Schindler's List, but I don't think so. I really appreciate those who can hold their own principle and kindness during the war time, the worst time. Undoubtedly John Rabe is one of them. John Rabe ist der Deutsch Mann der ich best mag.

I saw the movie on a Chinese video forum. Unfortunately I missed around 70 percent of the dialog because it was in German with Chinese subtitles. The only parts I understood are the scenes that involved the other foreigners in the safety zone. I missed a great deal of what otherwise could have been a great film. The other languages spoken were Japanese and Chinese. I guess the film makers were trying to stay true to the actual event. While I could understand Chinese I could not read the Chinese subtitles when it came to characters speaking German or Japanese. I could only go by the actors acting to follow the story line. But not having the entire dialog made the story disjointed. However, this IS a story that needs to be told.

"John Rabe", the title of this film, is a name that not really that many people have heard of so far, so this is already one perspective from which it made sense that Florian Gallenberger made this movie. He is an Academy Award winner and this is one of the reasons why he is still among Germany's most known filmmakers these days. Here he adapted the book by Erwin Wickert and directed as well. I read somewhere that Ulrich Mühe was supposed to play the main character, which also would have been an interesting choice, but Mühe's ill-fated health got in the way and the consequence was Ulrich Tukur taking over in what can be considered a career-defining performance. I believe he was very convincing as the title character. And he also looks quite different physically compared to other roles from his career. The best supporting performance here comes from Steve Buscemi and he is an actor that you would not really expect in a film like this with France, China and Germany being the countries who are listed under producing. This came out shortly before Buscemi appeared on "Boardwalk Empire". After watching this film, I must say that it's nice that Rabe got his own film finally. But I also believe this movie is probably more relevant to Chinese (maybe even Japanese) audiences because of the historic impact depicted in here. Pretty much the entire film is set in China of the 1930s, before World War II when bloody conflicts between Japanese and Chinese (with the former being the aggressor) happened way too frequently sadly. I read somewhere that the character of John Rabe has some parallels to Oskar Schindler and I would agree, but just partially. The context is really entirely different and the location where it all takes place is reason enough already to be careful with such a comparison, even if both men had saved many many innocent lives. This movie here was a huge success at the German Film Awards back then and won the big prize among others. It was another example of Gallenberger combining Germany with an entirely different country far far away in terms of plot and story-telling and it is one of his biggest successes so far. This was not the first time Gallenberger worked with actor Daniel Brühl, but I must say I found Brühl very forgettable here. It is a very stereotypical performance and I have seen pretty much the exact performance by Brühl in many films in terms of mannerisms and approach to the character. He has two or three films where he is pretty great, but he is basically very much the same in everything else. But back to this film here. I think the biggest strength is that it never only relies on the Rabe plot, but brings in several side stories, such as the one with the girl who is about to get raped and her brother saving her. I also don't think it takes away any relevance from Rabe as the main character as Tukur immediately has audiences glued to the screen when he is in the center of attention. I do believe this was a convincing film overall and the good outweighs the bad. It did not make as much of an emotional impact for me as I hoped, but there are still a handful fairly great and memorable scenes and moments. Go see it.

The film John Rabe is movie about two things, both interesting, both unknown, and both controversial: the "good" Nazi, and the Rape of Nanking. There have only been a few films about "good" Nazis that I know of, although I'm sure there are others I'm missing, this film, Seven Years in Tibet, and the 49th Parallel. This alone makes this film interesting. But John Rabe (the film) is also about the Rape of Nanking, the atrocities committed by the Japanese military to the Chinese people in the city of Nanking. This also would be enough to make this movie interesting. So we have a movie with two interesting topics, but ultimately fails as a compelling work. Why? The director pulled far too many punches in regards to the violence of Nanking. Maybe I'm a little hardened by watching films, but there was nothing about this movie that jumped out at me and drove home the lawlessness and violence of the Japanese occupation of Nanking. There is no way to show this and be discreet. The middle of the film was crying for a lurid montage of gang rapes, flies on corpses, and the worst depravities you can think of. John Rabe's own diaries describe many of these, you wouldn't have even had to think up any of your own and you could have had his character narrated the whole thing. The film fails in depicting the Rape of Nanking, but it also fails in depicting the good Nazi too. The movie needed a moment, several years later, with John Rabe confronting the Nazi atrocities in WWII and comparing them with the Japanese atrocities in Nanking. We need to see him understand what his own people have done and what his membership in the Nazi party truly means as a stain on his character. We needed to see him understand that and tear up his membership card or something. We, however, do not and the movie is much the poorer because of it. Despite this, the movie is still beautifully shot, with good production value, limited but effective CGI, and wonderfully acted. The movie is ultimately frustratingly incomplete and is not the best that could have been done with the material, but it was enjoyable while it lasted.

Prior to watching this file, I have read John Rabe's diary as well as Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking. I have also watched many documentaries and movies made about the subject from China as well as from the US. I found this film to be one of better film on this subject than most of the other ones in existence today. The film is based primarily on the actual diary of John Rabe. Certain details were filled-in by the excellent and exhaustive work of Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking. The importance of John Rabe's diary as opposed to the other accounts of what happened during the massacred is the fact that John Rabe was a German Nazi Party member that was working for Siemen in China. Germany was an allied of Japan at the time and there would have been no reason for John Rabe to have lied about atrocities committed by the Japanese if it did not actually happened. Also since John was mainly writing this as a personal diary for himself, there does not seem to be any reason for him to have exaggerated his description of the event. As a result, his diary is probably the credible historical account of the what actually happened in Nanking. I found some the Chinese version of the film on the subject seemed a little removed from the complex character interactions between most of these reluctant heroes of war. As a result, those movies does not seem quite as genuine and touching as this film. Most the events from this film seems very accurate or at least true to the overall sense of John Rabe's diary. Obviously some of the atrocities had to be consolidated to be able to fit those events into a slightly over two hour film. But one of the most puzzling inaccuracy of the film was the fictional character Valérie Dupres at the International Girls College. Why was it necessary for the film to use a fictional character's name instead of the actual courageous heroine Minnie Vaultrin from the Ginling Girls College. She had done so much during the massacred that it seems unfair to not use her real name in the film. This is my primary reason for not giving this film a perfect 10. If anyone can provide an explanation as to why Minnie Vaultrin name was not used in this film, I really would appreciate it.

This is the second film about the Nanking (Nanjing) massacre of 1937, to come out recently. Both feature a man whose bravery saved many thousands of lives and who was largely unknown to the wider world until very recently. John Rabe was a member of the Nazi party and had worked in Nanking as the senior executive for Siemens for many years. In the eponymous film it's suggested that he is about to return to Germany, but his departure is prevented by the sudden attack with over-powering military force, by the Japanese. Rabe stays, and heads a committee that sets up a safety zone around the Siemens works and the main embassies. When the Japanese take Nanking, and embark on wholesale rape and slaughter, this zone keeps more than 200,000 Chinese in greater safety that elsewhere in the city. The story is seen through Rabe's eyes mainly and focuses more on Westerners than the Japanese, although the dire impact of a member of the Imperial Family on the decisions made by the Japanese to execute unarmed soldiers, is highlighted . Some beheadings are shown but the wide scale practice of rape and enforced prostitution is skirted around. Nevertheless, the atmosphere of menace, instant arbitrary death and fanaticism is established effectively. The film grips and, in its own way, inspires. It is interesting to see this film and the more symbolic approach taken by Chuan Lu in 'City of Life and Death'. Both cover the same time period. Both are films that leave you pondering on human nature, its heights and its gross distortions.

"John Rabe" is a very glossy and well done film about the actions of Rabe and a few other foreigners in saving as many of the residents of Nanking as they could during the Japanese invasion. The airplane attacks and look of the film were absolutely great--and the film is well worth seeing. I am very familiar with the story of John Rabe and used to teach my world history students about him and the Japanese destruction of Nanking (I have since retired). Much of what I'd learned were from the book "The Rape of Nanking" as well as several well made documentaries. So, I am NOT the typical person watching the story for the first time--I am a bit tougher to please. Because of this, I am much more critical that average and to me, the story was flawed because it actually seemed very sanitized. In other words, while the film DID show some of the Japanese atrocities, it didn't do much--probably because it would nauseate most viewers. BUT, by doing so, it minimized the evil that was perpetrated here--making the Japanese troops seem almost normal. It's rare, but I would have included much more blood and talked much more about the rapes and murder of children. Evil must not be minimized and here it just didn't seem as sadistic and wrong as the Rape of Nanking was.

It is well made for a historical/biographical film, but there were a number of critical flaws : overdramatization (the least of its problems as movies need drama anyway) , inclusion of unnecessary scenes of romance, historical or more precisely technical flaws (the existence of such a small hand-held camera was not convincing), Steve Buscemi's overly-americanized character (i don't know if 'balls' or 'f***' were common during those era, but he talked like a modern American), accuracy of the portrayal of the then Japanese soldiers, etc. However i am glad the actors delivered spectacular performances to cover up those said flaws and made the most out of the limited character development, which was another aspect i would give salute for this film as it manages to focus on the big picture of the rescue efforts.

I have studied the man John Rabe through his diaries and other accounts of him from some of the main players such as Minnie Vautrin, Dr. Robert Wilson, Lewis Smythe, etc., and was expecting to see more of his actual work on the Peace Zone and Red Cross committees and perhaps a little less of the personal life--it's nice we got to see some of his relationship with his wife, but I think the movie would have benefited more from detail as to WHY he is so revered in China--he was so intelligent, kind-hearted, and seemed to truly love the Chinese people, and some of this is shown, as well as a little of his naiveté, but it needed MORE. For a character like Rabe you cannot just call him a benevolent Buddha and expect all the viewers to just know the details. I actually enjoyed Buscemi as Dr. Wilson, though I doubt Rabe would've sat still for the Hitler song, even while drinking! Wilson wore himself out, almost to death, in the hospital--where he would've found a moment for such a scene is a question. The one BIG issue that is appallingly inaccurate, to the point of being offensive, is the fictive character of Ms. Dupre. As one who has studied this period and read biographies on the main players, I kept wondering WHERE was Minnie Vautrin, the principal of Jinling Women's College, and WHO was this French woman?? How in the world did the creators of this movie go to such lengths to dramatize Rabe's life in Nanjing, yet make up this silly female character to replace an actual, real, wonderful and strong character like Vautrin? It just made NO sense to me at all. The Chinese called Rabe "The Living Buddha" for the immense efforts he made to save them (and as I said, more of this needed to be shown), and Minnie Vautrin, an American educator who loved China, was called the Goddess of Mercy-- there was no romance between them, but only an immense respect and need to help the Chinese. A romance seems to be implied between Rabe and this Miss Dupre character, which is a ridiculous development, especially leaving out the REAL Vautrin and her work. Also, some of the plots seemed superfluous, such as the development with Rabe's wife, and the emotional level was more shallow than I expected for a film about such a man as Rabe. Not a bad film, but just lacking in so many ways. I almost shut it off half way through, out of sheer frustration with the lack of fact and the made-up characters, but stuck it out. There were glaring errors and a disconnectedness to the story that were too distracting for me personally, however, I do recommend it in the end, if only to those who want to know more about such a great man as John Rabe--though, even for a movie hound like m'self, I think READING about him is better than anything this movie offers.