Rape of Nanking - documentary film
Wow. I had no idea this movie had even been in production.
The art used to illustrate the story/press release is the cover of Iris Chang's "Rape of Nanking", a work with which I am very familiar. I first encounted Iris Chang at a discussion and signing of this book in Chicago and it was an experience I will never forget. Iris Chang was articulate, full of energy and had an unbelievable store of information at her fingertips. She was an astonishingly effective speaker, a person committed to the truth and making sure the truth was known.
The book itself is difficult to read, just as any well written account of organized, large scale murder must be. It is even almost painful just to flip through it—the pictures are horrifying. “The Rape of Nanking” was her second book and it made her name—she appeared on talk shows on U.S. radio and television, had as many speaking engagements as she wished to fulfill, and became an extremely important spokesperson for those who were concerned that the holocaust endured by the Chinese people during the war with Japan might be forgotten. She was also denounced in Japan and by Japanese officials in the United States.
Iris Chang seemed to be indefatigable. With three well received books behind her she hardly stopped to take a breath before starting on a fourth. She was interviewing U.S. veterans of the Pacific War for it while doing publicity for her third book, “The Chinese in America. Even though not trained as such, she was considered to be "maybe the best young historian we've got because she understands that to communicate history, you've got to tell the story in an interesting way.” That quote is from Stephen Ambrose and is from an obituary in the “Washington Post” a day after she died, by her own hand.
Iris Chang wrote like a dream. She accomplished more in 36 years than most will in twice that time. She touched the lives of a lot of people throughout the world, especially in China and the United States—all of them are richer for having known her and poorer for her death.
One of the many tributes to her included the following: S”he died on November 9, 2004 leaving behind unfinished dreams: to make an epic movie of “The Rape of Nanking” and create an oral history project of recording victims and survivors of Sino-Japanese war before their voices disappear forever.”
The movie sounds intriguing and I hope it does justice both to its (apparent) source and to the story it needs to tell.
