John Rabe (2009)

A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.

Director:

Florian Gallenberger

Writers:

Florian Gallenberger, John Rabe (diaries)

Stars:

Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Brühl, Steve Buscemi

8 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ulrich Tukur	...	John Rabe
Daniel Brühl	...	Dr. Georg Rosen
Steve Buscemi	...	Dr. Robert Wilson
Anne Consigny	...	Valérie Dupres
Dagmar Manzel	...	Dora Rabe
Jingchu Zhang	...	Langshu
Teruyuki Kagawa	...	Prince Asaka Yasuhiko
Mathias Herrmann	...	Werner Fließ
Tetta Sugimoto	...	Col. Nakajima Kesago
Akira Emoto	...	Gen. Matsui Iwane
Arata Iura	...	Major Ose (as Arata)
Shaun Lawton	...	John Magee
Christian Rodska	...	Lewis Smythe
Gottfried John	...	Dr. Oskar Trautmann
Fang Yu	...	Han

Storyline

After 28 years building and managing a vast Siemens plant in Nanking, John Rabe is ordered by the new Nazi regime to close it down. Before he can pack, the Japanese army, lead unofficially by a bloodthirsty imperial uncle, lays siege to the city. Rabe accepts, as prominent representative of Japans' major European ally, to head the Western ex-pats society's plan to start and run an international zone, like worked in Shangai. Rabe however wants it to save his workers and their close ones, over 200,000, and sacrifices all his personal interests.

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Plot Keywords:

japanese occupation | japanese occupation of china | character name as title | two word title | based on real person | 

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Taglines:

History needs extraordinary heroes.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | War

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Production - and indeed most of China - ground to a halt during some severe snowstorms during filming.

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Goofs

Jinling Girls' College Master of Studies Valérie Dupres never existed. The real person - Minnie Vautrin - was an American missionary who was so traumatized by the tragedy that she committed suicide in 1941.

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Quotes

Dr. Robert Wilson: I don't like Nazis.
Valérie Dupres: He isn't a Nazi.
Dr. Robert Wilson: Yes he is.
Valérie Dupres: He's just a member of the party.
Dr. Robert Wilson: Which makes him a Nazi.
Valérie Dupres: Are you a member of the church?
Dr. Robert Wilson: Yeah, so what?
Valérie Dupres: What do you think of witch burning?
Dr. Robert Wilson: Ah, well, looking at you, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea.

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Alternate Versions

German TV version features ca. 45 minutes of additional footage.

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Soundtracks

Colonel Bogey March
Music by Kenneth Alford
Lyrics attributed to Toby O'Brien (uncredited)
Performed by Ulrich Tukur and Steve Buscemi

User Reviews

Everyone should watch this excellent movie.

Many people knew about the Holocaust happened in Europe, but so few people knew about the massacre happened in Nanjing - capital city of Republic of China.

This is an excellent movie, too bad, it wasn't shown at many movie theaters in the USA. This could help people to know what the Japanese did to defenseless Chinese people during world war ii. The scenes are shocking and graphic, but that is what the Japanese soldiers did.

Even today, some Japanese still refuse to believe the appalling atrocities. This is an excellent movie for the event. Even though John Rabe was a Nazi member, but what he did he in Nanjing was heroic. He could be given the Nobel peace prize for saving over 20,000 innocent Chinese people.

This film is truly an international collaboration from actors all over the world just like those people who saved so many people in 1937. I highly recommend it.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [France]

Country:

France China Germany

Language:

Cantonese Mandarin German Japanese English Ukrainian

Release Date:

2 April 2009 (Germany)

Also Known As:

John Rabe

Filming Locations:

Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,892, 23 May 2010

Gross USA:

$67,519

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,484,665

Company Credits

Production Co:

H&V Entertainment, EOS Entertainment, Majestic Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1