- by David Matters
- The Guardian
- Issue #2162
While travelling in China I met a woman who was running a coffee shop. In conversation she talked about her history in China. She was an opera singer who had come from a wealthy family in Nanjing. The bitterness of what had happened to her family in Nanjing was very deep. She told me of the suffering of her family. Though what she told me was eye-opening it cannot compare to the stark and artistic painting that the film Dead to Rights manages.
The Chinese Consulate-General in Brisbane very kindly invited members of our society to a private showing of this remarkable film. Knowing that the film was shot as a portrayal of the lives of a segment of the people of Nanjing, I was a little worried whether I would be able to sit through it. The art of the filmmaker is on show, meaning the most brutal of scenes are not shot in a Hollywood manner but in such a way that you can personally identify with the people and identify the reality of their situation.
In the context of the current Gaza genocide there is much to reflect on. Skilled camera work and direction gives context to the residents and their lives when hell in the form of the Japanese Imperial army defeated the defending Chinese National army. It had not occurred to me how brutal the occupation was and how inescapable the terror and brutality it unleashed was.
I think that this film is a must-see for all Australians. It sets in context why so many of us are opposed to the current reactionary war drive and things like the rearmament of Japan. In a context where over 400,000 women were kept as sex slaves by the Japanese imperial forces across the whole of Asia and where brutal killings and mass rapes occurred by these fascistic forces, resistance to re-militarising is more than theoretical.
The contribution in the war against fascism and militarism made by the Chinese nation as a whole was phenomenal. A tremendous price was paid by over 35 million Chinese people killed in that war. Our current media have misrepresented China as it is now, as well as distorting or ignoring the historical events that have shaped the Chinese Nation. It was horror at the Nanjing massacre and the occupation of China that made Australian workers, in particular the waterside workers of Port Kembla refuse to load pig iron being sold to the Japanese militarists.
As another of our committee members said, “there was no escape.” I would urge all who can to view this film. It is good to know that members of our own peace movement were in the audience and that efforts to increase exposure to this film will be undertaken by our society.
