John Rabe (2009)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Florian Gallenberger

Writer:

Florian Gallenberger (writer)

Release Date:

2 April 2009 (Germany)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | War

Plot:

A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38. |

Plot Keywords:

German | Massacre | Chinese | Swastika | Japanese

Awards:

6 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Ulrich Tukur	...	John Rabe
Daniel Brühl	...	Dr. Georg Rosen
Steve Buscemi	...	Dr. Robert Wilson
Anne Consigny	...	Valérie Dupres
Dagmar Manzel	...	Dora Rabe
Jingchu Zhang	...	Langshu
Teruyuki Kagawa	...	Prince Asaka Yasuhiko
Mathias Herrmann	...	Werner Fließ
Tetta Sugimoto	...	Colonel Nakajima Kesago
Akira Emoto	...	General Matsui Iwane
Arata	...	Major Ose
Shaun Lawton	...	Rev. John Magee
Christian Rodska	...	Dr. Lewis Smythe
Gottfried John	...	Dr. Oskar Trautmann
Yu Fang	...	Hsianglin Han

Also Known As:

La bei ri ji (China: Mandarin title)

Runtime:

Germany:134 min (Berlin International Film Festival)

Country:

France | China | Germany

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin | German | Japanese | English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Company:

Hofmann & Voges Entertainment GmbH

Trivia:

Originally planned with Ulrich Mühe in the title role.

John Rabe

I have just watched the movie 'John Rabe' three days ago at the Berlin International Film Festival. Fortunately the director was present and kind enough to answer some questions after the screening. Thank you for that.

The movie itself is about the extraordinary achievements of the then director of Siemens Naking, John Rabe, who saved several thousand Chinese people during the Japanese assault on, and capture of the city in 1937/38.

There certainly are several similarities to the case of Oscar Schindler, whose story is well documented and was made into a movie by Steven Spielberg, but those similarities are due to the story, and not because of any semblances of the two movies...

Nevertheless, the most innovative and interesting aspect of the movie 'John Rabe' is the story, which is about this extraordinary person. The movie itself, and that's really unfortunate, is partially too declamatory and rather kitschy in some parts. Some scenes actually reminded me of sad experiences such as the movie 'Pearl Harbor'. This critique may sound a little harsh, because on the whole the movie isn't too bad, but I still think it should be mentioned.

Now, if you are able to take some kitschy love scenes and some heroic moments, you might actually enjoy this movie and be able to discover a very interesting and less known story about the Second World War...