The Truth about Nanjing
The Truth about Nanjing (南京の真実 Nankin no shinjitsu) is a 2007 film by Japanese nationalist filmmaker Satoru Mizushima[1] about the 1937 Nanking Massacre.
The film was backed by nationalistic figures including Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara and public donations,[2] and was intended to expose what the films makers saw as propaganda[3] aspects of the Nanking Massacre. Less than a month before the 70th anniversary of the Nanjing massacre, the director said in an interview[2] that Japanese war criminals were martyrs who were made into scapegoats for war crimes as Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross in order to bear the sins of the world, and they died bearing all of old Japan's good and bad parts. He also claimed that the Nanjing Massacre was a politically motivated frame-up by China and the numerous Western eyewitnesses, whose accounts form the basis of the historical understanding of the Nanjing Massacre. These accounts were, according to the filmmakers, espionage activities.
Satoru said that the project was meant to counter the film Nanking, a 2007 American documentary, which he believed was "based on fabrications and gives a false impression"[4] and which he perceives to be a "setup by China to control intelligence".
Plot
"The Truth about Nanjing" is a three-part film.
- The first section was "Seven condemned criminals" (The theme is Class A war criminals.)
This part shows the last day of the seven people who were condemned to death in 1948 by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and executed on 23 December 1948 at Sugamo Prison, Tokyo. The film focuses on Iwane Matsui's campaign in Nanking through flashbacks. Focus is put on each of the seven men.
- The second section was for verification. (Documentary)
- The third section was for America. (Drama)
Cast
- The cast of the first part
- Kenkichi Hamahata - Iwane Matsui
- Jun Fujimaki - Hideki Tōjō
- Minori Terada - Kōki Hirota
- Shōhei Yamada - Seishirō Itagaki
- Kuniyasu Atsumi - Kenji Doihara
- Baiken Jukkanji - Akira Mutō
- Akira Kubo - Heitarō Kimura
- Kan Mikami - Shinshō Hanayama, Chaplain of Sugamo Prison
- Kyōko Kamimura - Fumiko Matsui, wife of Iwane Matsui
- Setsuko Karasuma - Shizuko Hirota, wife of Kōki Hirota
Political supporters
A number of serving national-level Japanese politicians came out in support of the film.[5]
- House of Representatives:
- Shingo Nishimura (Independent)
- Jin Matsubara (Democratic Party of Japan)
- Tōru Toida (Liberal Democratic Party)
- Atsushi Watanabe (Liberal Democratic Party)
- Masaaki Akaike (Liberal Democratic Party)
- Eiichiro Washio (Democratic Party of Japan)
- Hirofumi Ryu (Democratic Party of Japan)
- Yohei Matsumoto (Democratic Party of Japan)
- Tomomi Inada (Liberal Democratic Party)
- House of Councillors:
- Shimpei Matsushita (independent)
- Yasuhiro Oe (Liberal Democratic Party)
- Nariaki Nakayama (Liberal Democratic Party)
See also
- Nanking Massacre
- Nanking Massacre denial
- Japanese war crimes
- The Rape of Nanking, written by Iris Chang
- Japanese nationalism
- Japanese militarism
- Japanese right-wing
References
- ↑ "Taipei Times". Japanese filmmaker to deny Nanjing massacre. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112600477.html. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Hongo, Jun (2007-01-25). "Filmmaker to paint Nanjing slaughter as just myth". The Japan Times.
- ↑ Schilling, Mark (2007-01-24). "Docs offer rival visions of Nanking". Variety.
- ↑ The Japan Times NANJING MASSACRE 70TH ANNIVERSARY December 6, 2007 Retrieved on August 22, 2012