“John Rabe”, has just started shooting in Shanghai, a story based around the horrific Nanking Massacre in 1937 when Japanese forces invaded and pillaged the Chinese city of Nanjing, leaving between 150,000 and 300,000 people dead. What is wonderful to note about this film however is despite the serious, non American. premise, the film has attracted a rather impressive international cast.
Ulrich Tukur takes the title role of Rabe, a Nazi and Siemens executive who managed to create a safe zone in the city and to save the lives of 200,000 civilians.
Steve Buscemi plays American doctor Robert Wilson, who stayed in the city during the occupation to care for the sick and wounded. What I love about Buscemi is he goes for roles you wouldn’t think of him in, and (usually) pulls them off.
Daniel Bruehl has also been cast, as has French actress Anne Consigny who will turn heads in this years awards hopeful “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Chinese stars Lu Huang and Zhang Jingchu lead the local contingent, with Akira Emoto and Teruyuki Kagawa representing the Japanese. German director and short film Oscar winner Florian Gallenberger, will be calling the shots.
What is wonderful is that this is not the only film about this subject currently in some form of production.
“Nanking Nanking” also started shooting earlier this month, from director Tian Zhuangzhuang, while Hong Kong's Stanley Tong and Yim Ho are both covering it, with “The Diary” and “Nanking Xmas 1937” respectively.
Over in England Simon West is also preparing his take in “Purple Mountain”.
This much overlooked event (I myself feel great shame that I am not very familiar with it) is finally getting the attention it deserves. As the world gets smaller we all begin to look outside of out cocoons and see that things happen in other world that we should care about.
The “John Rabe” is due in 2008 and I am hoping it is brilliant enough to make this, a thing of the past
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