I watched this movie today and I felt like talking about it because it was pretteh good.
It's about the Rape of Nanking in WWII. Because of that nobody would watch it with me (that and my brother is too lazy to watch movies even though he said he wanted to watch it, now he's saying he doesn't want to...>3>).
As a movie, it was WONDERFUL. But I don't think it is very historically accurate.
I've noticed with many of these Chinese war movies compared to Western war movies, the Chinese war movies show both sides and makes you feel sympathy for both sides, while Western war movies usually just have the bad guy and the good guy.
What I found really great was that (who I would say is) the main bad guy went along more on logic and actually had some very good points. He shot a woman he claim was beautiful who they were using as 'entertainment' because he believed she would be better dead than to live through what they've put through her (she probably would've gotten some terrible disease and lived a life of torture anyways). It was sad, but it did make sense. They give him some sympathy for those that he wrecked the lives of.
I think one of themes of the movie was that in times of terrible living conditions, isn't it better to just die? (Okay, not a theme, but a question of the movie)
It was more of a movie of humanity than of war, I guess.
I don't understand why most war movie fans like the war movies for the action. I think that's half the point of the movie. I like watching the reactions and the tolls of war on the human characters.
Another thing that I think this movie probably does the best that I've ever seen in a war movie was the battle scene (hah, right after I talk about how the battle scenes aren't really that important). I've never seen a battle scene done so well. I hear all the time about how 'it happened so fast' and then I watch the movies and I keep thinking 'Pssh, they could've hit them at such and such time and why were they open for so long?', but in this movie it really did happen so fast. I couldn't even think about what I just saw or figure out how they could possibly get out of their predicament because it seemed dangerous to do anything.
The music was also VERY good! The acting, fairly good, the dialogue was minimal, but it was powerful (like the chanting scene in the trailer I cried during because it was a very powerful scene).
A word of warning! THE MOVIE IS RATED R FOR A REASON! There are several things in this movie that I think most people would not sit well with, but it is a war movie and it a movie about the Rape of Nanking. BEWARE! You have been warned.
My parents didn't want to watch it because they knew it would be hard to watch and I don't think they would have wanted to watch it because it was hard to watch.
It wasn't gruesome or creepy or anything, it was just despicable. As in you see it and you just want to go into the corner and despair.
Very good movie, probably will get on my favourites list.
I highly recommend it, however I also think some people should not watch it because, again, it is hard to watch.
(Taking a break for drawing for a moment because my arm is getting tired...5 more pages to draw, 12 more pages to ink, and then I will tone them all eventually)
Adios~!
