CHINESE NEW YEAR - The new film City Of Life And Death depicting the Chinese slaughter by Japanese Troops in Nanjing December 1937

A new film that tells the story of a massacre little known outside China, the Rape of Nanjing, often described as the forgotten Holocaust of World War Two, has already moved critics after a good showing on the festival circuit. Now its UK opening is imminent. 

City of Life and Death is set over a period of two weeks in December 1937 when more than 200,000 were slaughtered in Nanjing about two years after Japan had invaded China .

Under the creative approach of the acclaimed director Lu Chuan, graduate of the Beijing Film Academy, who spent four years researching the story, the film abandons any overt political stance, preferring the disorientating fog of war approach. Set in black and white, it is an epic and harrowing experience, that will remain with you hours after the credits have rolled. 

The story revolves around a handful of characters, both Japanese and Chinese, whose stories run parallel with each other, and collide just fleetingly. Peking (now known as Beijing) and Shanghai have already fallen, when Japanese troops arrive at the doors of the capital Nanjing. Following weeks of bombardment, officials have fled the city in ruins. Stepping into the chaos is the young, romantic officer Kadokawa, who finds it hard to square his ideals with the brutal reality of war and specifically the conduct of his fellow soldiers. He briefly crosses paths with the young general Lu, who is courageously leading the irregular unit of Chinese guerilla fighters. We also encounter John Rabe, a Schindler-style German, who saves civilians by smuggling them into an international safety zone. As hell is rolling over Nanjing, all are striving to survive in a city where death is easier than life.

City of Life and Death opens at the Glasgow Film Festival next week and will be followed by select screenings across London and the UK from April 16.