Iris Chang: the Rape of Nanking
Directors: Anne Pick, Bill Spahic
“I’ll give voice to the voiceless
Silenced for too long
Crying out for justice
Trust me with your pain
I’ll take it as my own
I’ll fight to get the truth told
My weapon is my word” - Song for Iris by Yo-Yo Sham
“Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking” is one of the single most powerful and unforgettable films I have seen in ages.
This docu-drama follows the story of young Chinese-American writer Iris Chang as she unearths the story of the Rape of Nanking.
In the early stages of World War II, in July 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army, which at the time already controlled a large section of northeastern China, launched an undeclared war against the Republic of China. Their troops marched across the country destroying everything in their path. Five months later, troops entered the capital city of Nanking and descended into an orgy of murder, rape, and violence reminiscent of the outrages of Rwanda, American Slavery, Apartheid, or the Holocaust itself. Not logistically capable of handling numerous prisoners of war, they were ordered to kill. In six weeks, hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Virtually all men of fighting age were rounded up and killed, women raped, children shot and stabbed, babies smashed against the ground. Over 80,000 women were raped. Mass murders of as many as 50,000 people at a time occurred until the rivers ran red with their blood. Bets were taken on beheading contests like they were sporting events. It was one of the most horrible things you would ever want to witness, or in this case see actual photos and footage of. At the time there were a handful of Westerners in the capital that documented, filmed, and took graphic pictures of the atrocities while trying to save as many people as they could, indeed saving tens of thousands of women and children. But today, despite all the evidence and that at the time this was front-page news, this event had nearly sunken into the crevices of history. When Iris Chang discovered this, she felt she owed it to the survivors to tell their story.
The story of Nanking is told through the story of Iris Chang as the young writer so valiantly takes on the responsibility of telling the accounts of all who have suffered. She spends months pouring over their tragic, heartbreaking tales (which they also honor us by opening up again and sharing for this film) such that she loses herself in the heartbreak of it all. She suffers from depression, insomnia, hair loss, but she gets their stories told. The book becomes a bestseller and reopens the truth of the story of Nanking. But the experience took its toll and several years later while writing a similarly grinding work on the Bataan Death March, Iris Chang suffered a nervous breakdown and shortly after committed suicide in 1994.
This film is utterly captivating on so many levels. Seeing what mankind is capable of given the right situation, the evils of those committing the atrocities, the valor of those risking their lives to save others, and the astonishing courage of the survivors is simply both heart wrenching and breath taking. To discover something so horrible in history that effected so many that was almost buried simply due to the fact that the governments on either side want to forget it happened and at the same time to watch a writer drawn so into her subject matter and the importance of telling it that it slowly destroys her is all blindingly intense.
Hearing the voices of the actual survivors, watching the young actress who plays Iris Chang go through her journey, and seeing the real film footage and photos of the tragedy is an unparalleled experience. This is a MUST see. I’m getting the book too.
“I gave voice to the voiceless
Now I’m silencing my own
What I’ve left behind, remember
In you my spirit lives on
Find my light
Pass it on
Find my light
Pass it on”
-Song for Iris by Yo-Yo Sham (written and performed by the actress playing Iris Chang in her honor)
Lucy Cruell