Nanking (1938 film)

Nanking

Nurse comforting a wounded soldier
Produced by Keiji Matsuzaki[1]
Music by Jiang Wen-Ye
Cinematography Shigeru Shirai
Edited by Ken Akimoto
Release dates
  • 20 January 1938 (1938-01-20)
Running time
 56 minutes
Country Japan
Language Japanese

Nanking is a Japanese war propaganda film released in the year 1938. It was filmed directed by Ken Akimoto and filmed by Shigeru Shirai of the Toho Film Company, and was produced in association with the Army Special Services Division [Gun Tokumubu] and the Cultural Films Division.[2] The film is composed of footage shot inside and outside the walls of the city of Nanking just after the end of the Battle of Nanking during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The movie was planned out in conjunction with the documentary Shanghai on the Battle of Shanghai in anticipation that the advance on Nanking would follow. After the shooting of Shanghai wrapped up the equipment used for that movie was passed on to Nanking's camera crew who departed for Nanking before dawn on December 12, 1937. They arrived on December 14 the day after the city's fall, spent New Year's there, and continued shooting until January 4.[3][4]

Considered for a long time as a lost film, it was discovered in Beijing, China, in the year 1995, though about ten minutes of footage is missing.[5] A DVD copy has been released by Nippon Eiga Shinsha.

Contents

Nanking includes commentary on the locations of each military confrontation during the battle interspersed with footage of Japanese soldiers giving cigarettes to Chinese POWs, the Japanese Army's victory parade through the city, a joint service for the war dead, the refugee area set up by the International Committee known as the Nanking Safety Zone, rebuilding by the Japanese Army and residents of Nanking of battle damage to the city, civilians returning to their homes, the work of nurses from the Red Cross,[6] the Japanese Army's issuing of identification papers to the Chinese they deemed to be law-abiding citizens,[7] preparations for the new year and New Year's Day in the Japanese Army, Chinese children playing with firecrackers on New Year's Day, and the inaugural ceremony of the Nanking Self-Government Committee.[8][9]

A message in the film's subtitles reads "Even within our glorious history full of battles fought as one nation, our entry into Nanking with remain as a brilliant chapter in world history. We gift this film to future generations in memory of that day. This film was completed with the support and guidance of the Army Ministry, Navy Ministry, and officers and men in the field."

Behind the scenes of the filming

Nanking fell on December 13, for the camera crew the day before they would enter Nanking, and according to the journal of production clerk Akiyoshi Yonezawa they had heard stories about attacks by Chinese stragglers and feared that their equipment would get robbed.[10] His journal then notes that they entered Nanking on the 14th as mopping-up operations were being undertaken in the northern half of the city and that they heard bursts of gunfire which they assumed to be the Japanese Army battling remnants of the Chinese Army.[11] Filming inside Nanking started on the 15th and even then mopping-up operations were still taking place in the vicinity of Yijiang Gate which they visited that day.[12] On the 16th they shot footage of the foothills of Purple Mountain, the suburban recreational garden containing Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, and a nearby concert hall where dogs were wanderingly freely.[10] On the 17th they filmed the Japanese Army's victory parade through Nanking, the footage of which was immediately airlifted to Japan for presentation before Emperor Hirohito.[13] According to Yonezawa's journal, the film crew witnessed the plight of Nanking's refugees to preserve the story in images, but also noted the kindness with which the refugees were treated by the Japanese Army.[14] The journal also notes that the camera crew filmed the construction of water supply facilities[15] and the provision of medical treatment to Chinese POWs.[16]

Yonezawa wrote in his journal that, while about 120 Japanese newspaper journalists and cameramen had entered Nanking at the start of the occupation and were doing reporting work there, among them it was Nanking's camera crew which was permitted unfettered access even in places where the press teams of newspapers were not allowed to take pictures because his camera crew was connected with the Military Special Affairs Department.[17]

On the other hand, cinematographer Shigeru Shirai stated in his memoirs that it was not the case that they filmed everything they saw and even some of what they shot was cut out.[18] After Shirai arrived in Nanking on December 14 he saw long lines of Chinese who were being taken to the banks of the Yangtze River to be shot, but he was not allowed to start his movie camera. Shirai was stunned by what he saw and said that he suffered nightmares for many nights after.[3][19]

Staff

  • Producer - Keiji Matsuzaki
  • Guidance - Military Special Affairs Department
  • Cinematographer - Shigeru Shirai
  • On-site sound recorder - Shinichi Fujii
  • Production clerk - Akiyoshi Yonezawa
  • Editor - Ken Akimoto
  • Sound recorder - Kinjiro Kanayama
  • Music supervisor - Jiang Wen-Ye
  • Commentator - Musei Tokugawa


Reviews

Kinema-Junpo Co.'s database introduces it as a highly discussed work relevant to the debate on the Nanking Massacre which records real-life images of the devastated city and of Japan's occupying army.[20]

Documentary film director Shinkichi Noda has pointed out that, though they had filmed the situation in Nanking immediately after the fall of the city in a variety of ways, because the taping of the massacres was completely forbidden the movie does not go beyond being a standard propaganda newsreel. He received the impression that the movie was reporting on slivers of light in the darkness of Nanking with the Japanese soldiers all being filmed in cheerful settings behind the front lines and with no trace of the nervousness of the Chinese people who were forced to remain silent.[21]

The historian Tokushi Kasahara has said that there was almost no chance that Japanese cameramen could have captured the massacres on film given the Japanese Army's censorship guidelines,[22] but though footage of scenes portraying the Japanese Army unfavorably were naturally avoided, some unavoidable traces of the backdrop of the Nanking Massacre were caught on camera, such as the devastation of a city that had been damaged, looted, and put to flame following the occupation as well as the exhausted and spiritless expressions on the faces of the Chinese refugees. He believes that these are, upon closer inspection, pieces of photographic evidence of the Nanking Massacre.[23]

Film critic Jinshi Fujii has indicated that the movie's most distinctive characteristic lies in its unbalanced nature full of contradiction, which he calls "a stylized chaos". Throughout the movie the images of Nanking as a city lack clarity and daily life of the city is completely missing. The Japanese soldiers just conduct one function after another and the Chinese are rarely seen with the exception of the scene of Chinese people lining up to get identification papers, but if the camera crew had gone a short distance from the whereabouts of the Japanese Army then what they would have portrayed would have been just desolate ruins. Fujii states that because this was a reality that the camera crew saw but was not able to film, Nanking is a documentary telling the story of a hard-fought battle without showing the reality behind it.[24]

By contrast, movie director Satoru Mizushima argues that the movie contains many scenes which pan over a wide area and that if there had been many unfavorable sights then they would have opted for one shots on a narrow frame. He notes that one can see in the images that the inhabitants of Nanking have no fear on their faces and the fact that they lined up in an orderly manners also shows that they were not afraid of the Japanese soldiers.[25]

Sankei Shimbun published a movie review highlighting the scenes where Chinese civilians stroll calmly before groups of kempeitai who one would expect they should have been afraid of, as well as the children unconcernedly having fun with firecrackers on New Year's Day even while Japanese soldiers pass by and the thousands of Chinese rushing to get licenses from the Japanese after seeing notices stating that those bearing such identification would be protected by the Japanese Army. The reviewer argued that if the number of Chinese massacred in Nanking by the Japanese Army had really reached 200,000 or 300,000 in the six weeks after the occupation of the city then such things could never have happened.[26]

Military analyst Mamoru Sato also argues that the extremely calm and peaceful situation depicted within the city of Nanking in the film is contrary to Chinese assertions that 300,000 people were murdered in massacres. He believes that such footage could not have been taken if the relatively few Japanese troops in Nanking were massacring 300,000 people and that the expressions on the faces of the Chinese children playing and setting off firecrackers on New Year's Day amply suggest that law and order had been restored within Nanking at that time.[27]

Japan film scholar Peter B. High writes of the film, "Shirai aimed for patriotically satisfying scenes... When the rivers of civilian blood had been washed from the boulevard in order to allow General Matsui and the accompanying army to march there in bugle tooting victory parade, Shirai was there too, cranking his camera. The latter became one of the highlights of the film Nanjing [Nanking]".[28]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Nornes, Abe Mark. Japanese Documentary Film: The Meiji Era Through Hiroshima (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003), 59, 150.
  2. ↑ Stuart Galbraith, The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography (Lanham NJ: Scarecrow Press, 2008) 20.
  3. 1 2 Noriaki Tsuchimoto, "亀井文夫・『上海』から『戦ふ兵隊』まで," in講座日本映画5　戦後映画の展開 (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1987), 330-331.
  4. ↑ Jinshi Fujii, "上海・南京・北京―東宝文化映画部〈大陸都市三部作〉の地政学," in 日本映画史叢書②　映画と「大東亜共栄圏 ed. Kenji Iwamoto (Tokyo: Shinwasha, 2004), 111.
  5. ↑ Jinshi Fujii, "上海・南京・北京―東宝文化映画部〈大陸都市三部作〉の地政学," in 日本映画史叢書②　映画と「大東亜共栄圏 ed. Kenji Iwamoto (Tokyo: Shinwasha, 2004), 125.
  6. ↑ Nurses from the Red Cross had arrived in Nanking on December 28, 1937. See Akiyoshi Yonezawa, "南京 撮影日誌," 映画と演芸, 1938.
  7. ↑ This was called "proof of living peacefully" in documents on the pacification of Nanking. See 南京事件資料集 「南京特務機関」
  8. ↑ 南京大虐殺はウソだ! 「ビデオ「南京」」
  9. ↑ 映画『南京の真実』公式サイト
  10. 1 2 Akiyoshi Yonezawa, "南京 撮影日誌," 映画と演芸, 1938.
  11. ↑ The journal states "We entered Nanking at 5:00 PM. The sound of gunfire is intense. It's probably from mopping-up of enemy stragglers. The Military Special Affairs Department was set up together with the special service unit at the Bank of Communication on Zhongshan Road and we also have decided to stay here." See Akiyoshi Yonezawa, "南京 撮影日誌," 映画と演芸, 1938.
  12. ↑ Yonezawa's journal states "We are filming before eating. We flew out the door early in the morning and though we didn't know where anything was, we made it to Yijiang Gate. The devastation is beyond compare. This is what happens to the villages of a nation defeated in war. Mopping-up operation are being carried out everywhere we go. Many graphic things are happening that I can't write here. If we lose a war, our siblings, and our parents and children, would also suffer this sort of misery. It's a scary thought. No matter the cost and by whatever means necessary we absolutely cannot lose a war. It seems that it was Chiang Kai-Shek's anti-Japanese indoctrination which caused this tragedy." See Akiyoshi Yonezawa, "南京 撮影日誌," 映画と演芸, 1938.
  13. ↑ Yonezawa's journal states "In the fourth month of the holy war we have achieved a brilliant military victory here, and today this story which stands out in world history, including the magnificent and glorious victory parade as well as the troop review, raising of the Japanese flag, and salute in the direction of the Imperial Palace, have been recorded by our hand for all posterity. If a film still existed today of the entrance of the Japanese Army into Mukden during the Russo-Japanese War or of the meeting between General Nogi and General Stoessel at a Chinese naval camp then that film would be a national treasure. Alongside the Imperial Army's great military victory probably our film will likewise be commemorated forever." See Akiyoshi Yonezawa, "南京 撮影日誌," 映画と演芸, 1938.
  14. ↑ The journal entry for December 24 states "We went to film the 300,000 refugees who had been abandoned by the Nationalists. They were in a very miserable state. Our soldiers were out looking for children and giving them caramels. It was a beautiful sight. Perhaps out of gratitude to the Imperial Army, the children even made a polite bow in our direction." See Akiyoshi Yonezawa, "南京 撮影日誌," 映画と演芸, 1938.
  15. ↑ The journal entry for December 31 states "We went to film the construction of waterworks with an army major who is finance director in the press corps." See Akiyoshi Yonezawa, "南京 撮影日誌," 映画と演芸, 1938.
  16. ↑ The journal entry for January 2 states "We filmed at the same time the treatment of Chinese POWs under the supervision of the head of the army medical service." See Akiyoshi Yonezawa, "南京 撮影日誌," 映画と演芸, 1938. A review of the movie by Asahi Shimbun also remarked on "the groaning of the wounded Chinese soldiers who are receiving hospitable care from our army surgeons near the end of the film." See "新映画評 南京," Asahi Shimbun, February 23, 1938.
  17. ↑ The journal states "We are able to do simultaneous filming of excellent scenes in a free and unrestricted manner." See Akiyoshi Yonezawa, "南京 撮影日誌," 映画と演芸, 1938.
  18. ↑ Jinshi Fujii, "上海・南京・北京―東宝文化映画部〈大陸都市三部作〉の地政学," in 日本映画史叢書②　映画と「大東亜共栄圏 ed. Kenji Iwamoto (Tokyo: Shinwasha, 2004), 115.
  19. ↑ Makoto Satō, ドキュメンタリー映画の地平 (Tokyo: Gaifusha, 2001), 171-172.
  20. ↑ Amazon.co.jp
  21. ↑ Shinkichi Noda, 日本ドキュメンタリー映画全史 (Tokyo: Shakai Shisosha, 1984), 86.
  22. ↑ The Army's censorship system was based on the "Guidelines for Judging the Permissibility of Newspaper Publications" within the Army Ministry's press censorship regulation of September 9, 1937 and any material that did not pass through the censors could not be reported on or broadcast. Specifically the following things were forbidden. "Article 4 - We will not permit publication of items listed below... (12) Newspaper photographs portraying our Army unfavorably. (13) Anything which risks giving people the impression of ill treatment in newspapers photos of things like the arrest and interrogation of Chinese soldiers or civilians. (14) Photos of graphic violence, except for news stories on the barbarity of the Chinese. Article 5 - Films shall be censured according to the same guidelines." See不許可写真 (Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1998).
  23. ↑ Tokushi Kasahara, "南京大虐殺はニセ写真の宝庫ではない," in南京大虐殺否定論13のウソ ed. Research Committee on the Nanking Incident (Tokyo: Kashiwa Shobo, 1999), 232-233.
  24. ↑ Jinshi Fujii, "上海・南京・北京―東宝文化映画部〈大陸都市三部作〉の地政学," in 日本映画史叢書②　映画と「大東亜共栄圏 ed. Kenji Iwamoto (Tokyo: Shinwasha, 2004), 113-116.
  25. ↑
  26. ↑ Sankei Shimbun, December 13, 1998
  27. ↑
  28. ↑ Peter B. High, The Imperial Screen: Japanese Film Culture in the Fifteen Years War, 1931-1945 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003) 20.

External links

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