Don't Cry, Nanking vs. Journey to Beijing
Don't Cry, NankingUnited 93 feels real. Band of Brothers feels real. Blackhawk Down feels real. All three do justice to the events they portray because they don't shy away from ugly truths. The Nanking massacre is one of the most horrifying atrocities in history, but you wouldn't necessarily know it by watching Don't Cry, Nanking. The horror of the massacre is lost to mediocre filmmaking. When compared to a scene from Saving Private Ryan you begin to see the difference.
It's these little things that create the feeling of reality and keep your attention by providing variety. Short stories within the scene. Without 'em you quickly become numb to what you're seeing. One faceless mob shooting another faceless mob. Sorry if I'm ranting, I guess I just feel this tragedy deserved something less average. There's more power in one actual photograph of the massacre than there is in the entire massacre sequence.
All that said, it may come as a surprise that I still thought the film was worth watching. While the massacre scenes are unfortunately weak, they aren't the primary focus. The central story is that of a Chinese man, his Japanese wife and their two children all living in Nanking when the Japanese army invades the city. It's engaging enough to take you to the end. I won't give away the details, but it's an interesting drama.
I'm not particularly big on this one, but I at least got a vague, watered-down idea of what it was like to be living in that place and time. Of course, I'll never
really know. No movie could capture what it was like to actually be there, but it should at least make you forget you're watching a movie.
Journey to BeijingThe only thing imdb has to say about this film it's that it's a documentary. I wasn't sure what it was about but I figured it would be an interesting change of pace.
It follows a group of about two dozen people as they walk from Hong Kong to Beijing. Their purpose, as far as I could understand it, was raising money for schools and making people aware of the importance of education. I takes place around the same time Britain transfers sovereignty of Hong Kong back to China. It's explained that while this isn't the reason for their march they wanted to take advantage of the optimistic mood.
Unfortunately it's a pretty dry movie despite doing its best to wrap the viewer up in the passion of the moment. It's basically just one interview after the other given by people involved in the walk. They talk about everything from the dwindling numbers of waterfowl, to experiences during WWII. Some interviews are more interesting than others, but none of them really tie into each other or present any clear message. I must admit I skipped over a lot of them (the political ones) because they were simply too boring. Add to that the fact that they are talking about issues more than a decade old. Frankly it was hard to stay interested or find what they said to be of any consequence.
Someone from China, with a sense of what it was and what it has become mind find this more interesting. For me it was like reading a ten year old local newspaper of a city I've never been too.
VerdictDon't Cry, Nanking moves on. It's the better film, and far more discussion-worthy than Journey to Beijing.