Nanking (2007 film)

Nanking
Nanking film poster
Directed byBill Guttentag
Dan Sturman
Written byBill Guttentag
Dan Sturman
Elisabeth Bentley
Produced byTed Leonsis
Bill Guttentag
Michael Jacobs
StarringRosalind Chao
Stephen Dorff
John Getz
Woody Harrelson
Mariel Hemingway
Michelle Krusiec
Jürgen Prochnow
Sonny Saito
Graham Sibley
Robert Wu
CinematographyStephen Kazmierski
Buddy Squires
Edited byHibah Sherif Frisina
Charlton McMillan
Michael Schweitzer
Music byPhilip Marshall
Distributed byFortissimo Films (world)
THINKFilm (U.S.)
CCTV (China)
Release dates
  • January 20, 2007 (2007-01-20) (Sundance)
  • July 3, 2007 (2007-07-03) (China)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Mandarin (Nanjing dialect)
Japanese

Nanking (Chinese: 南京) is a 2007 documentary film about the Nanjing Massacre, committed in 1937 by the Japanese army in the former capital city Nanjing, China. It was inspired by Iris Chang's book The Rape of Nanking (1997), which discussed the persecution and murder of the Chinese by the Imperial Japanese Army in the then-capital of Nanjing at the outset of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). The film draws on letters and diaries from the era as well as archive footage and interviews with surviving victims and perpetrators of the massacre. Contemporary actors play the roles of the Western missionaries, professors, and businessmen who formed the Nanking Safety Zone to protect the city's civilians from Japanese forces. Particular attention is paid to Nazi Party member John Rabe, a German businessman who organized the Nanking Safety Zone, Robert O. Wilson, a surgeon who remained in Nanjing to care for legions of victims, and Minnie Vautrin, a missionary educator who rendered aid to thousands of Nanjing's women.