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James Marsh

3/5 stars
The Nanking massacre of 1937 – which took place in the Chinese city now called Nanjing – was one of the most horrendous wartime atrocities ever committed.
While numbers vary wildly, the Chinese government estimates that more than 300,000 civilians and prisoners of war were murdered, and tens of thousands of women raped, by the Imperial Japanese Army during the weeks and months that followed the fall of the Chinese city.
Dead to Rights, a new epic set during the occupation, stars Liu Haoran (Detective Chinatown) as A Chang, a postman forced to assist a Japanese army photographer in documenting the unfolding violence.


Since its release in mainland China on July 25, the film has taken 2.8 billion yuan (US$400 million) to become one of the year’s biggest blockbusters.
Directed by Shen Ao (No More Bets), the film delivers a rousing account of the massacre and the sacrifices made by ordinary civilians to survive.
While delivering photo albums, A Chang is mistaken for an employee of Lucky Photo Studio by Japanese soldiers and plays along when he realises their mistake will put a roof over his head and hopefully earn him an official pass out of Nanjing.
He is tasked with developing snaps taken by Lieutenant Hideo Ito (Daichi Harashima, When Sun Meets Moon), a weaselly army photographer ordered to document Japanese activities in the city for propaganda purposes.
A Chang has no idea how to work a photo lab, but soon discovers the owner, Jin (Wang Xiao), and his family hiding in the basement. Jin agrees to secretly train Liu in exchange for his silence.

Ito’s Chinese translator (Wang Chuanjun) also sees Liu’s position as an opportunity to help his mistress (Gao Ye) secure an exit pass by posing as A Chang’s wife. A small community of survivors builds around A Chang, while he is exposed to the unspeakable horrors captured in Ito’s pictures.
On more than one occasion, the film intercuts operating a camera with operating a rifle, as Dead to Rights repeatedly emphasises the power and potency of these images.
Not only does this foreshadow how the army’s own photographic evidence would eventually be used against them to expose their heinous crimes to the rest of the world, but it reiterates a broader message about the power of the press and the importance of documenting and defying injustice.
Dead to Rights strikes a bombastic tone that lacks the subtlety of something like Lu Chuan’s more sombre City of Life and Death (2009).

On occasion, Shen’s dramatisation of wartime resilience is so sensational, especially in its graphic recreation of hideous executions, rapes and mutilations, that it verges on “trauma porn”, as though engineered to stoke the fires of anti-Japanese sentiment in local audiences.
Still, the lavish production design, strong performances and inescapable weight of the subject matter are already more than enough to ensure Dead to Rights is a thunderously powerful account of one of history’s most egregious tragedies.
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Shen Ao’s film with Liu Haoran verges on sensationalism but ultimately gives a powerful account of one of history’s most egregious events


Shen Ao’s film with Liu Haoran verges on sensationalism but ultimately gives a powerful account of one of history’s most egregious events.


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An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


Review

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Shen Ao’s film with Liu Haoran verges on sensationalism but ultimately gives a powerful account of one of history’s most egregious events

Shen Ao’s film with Liu Haoran verges on sensationalism but ultimately gives a powerful account of one of history’s most egregious events