Kong Ho Meng It is well made for a historical/biographical film, but there were a number of critical flaws : overdramatization (the least of its problems as movies need drama anyway) , inclusion of unnecessary scenes of romance, historical or more precisely technical flaws (the existence of such a small hand-held camera was not convincing), Steve Buscemi's overly-americanized character (i don't know if 'balls' or 'f***' were common during those era, but he talked like a modern American), accuracy of the portrayal of the then Japanese soldiers, etc.However i am glad the actors delivered spectacular performances to cover up those said flaws and made the most out of the limited character development, which was another aspect i would give salute for this film as it manages to focus on the big picture of the rescue efforts.

MichaelReviews An important movie that must be watched. John Rabe was a hero to the Chinese people. He saved 200,000 men, women, and children from certain hardship, probable torture, and likely death. Yet after the war, he was condemned by his country, and lived a life of poverty, slipping into obscurity until his death. There has been too little written about this man. "The Rape of Nanjing" by Iris Chang does cover him in good detail in parts of the book. It's certainly about time for a piece to have been done about his efforts in Nanjing, about his life. The movie is masterfully paced, poignant, and at times devastatingly sad - only able to hint at the atrocities the people of Nanjing must have faced. Yet the movie is ultimately a tribute to the power of few to change the lives of many, to the ultimate goodness of humans.

Esmee Webb John Rabe's story is important and probably merited its 'blockbuster' treatment. Rabe was the elected head of the international organisation that attempted to save the Nanjing Chinese from the appalling treatment they received at hands of their Japaense conquerors in 1937-8. The scale of the massacre, some 200,000-300,000 Chinese were killed, is still denied by many Japanese. These poor people were buried alive, beheaded in competitions, mown down by machine gun, burnt alive. The women were gang raped and, if they did not die as a result, sexually mutilated to ensure their deaths. The appalling behaviour of the Japanese troops in Nanjing is not sufficiently well known. By making a Hollywood-style 'blockbuster', the Germans have done the world a service. The film may be, indeed is, wrong in detail, but at least it may be seen by a wide audience who may then be tempted to find out more. In my opinion, this is a MUST SEE film because it addresses an appalling event that has been covered up for far too long.

comeau JOHN RABE is a well-enough-made war movie set in Nanking at the time of the Japanese siege.*minor spoilers ahead* The story is fairly cookie-cutter (though "true"). In fact, the 'hero' John Rabe does not really seem to be much of one, though nor is he an anti-hero. He is more or less a corporate (Siemens) functionary with a solid German character. He is also as it happens a Nazi party member (as were many) and a firm believer in Hitler (as were many), who does not find much reason to question these beliefs during the span of the film. Fine. At the end, when throngs of Chinese chant his name as the Japanese expel him from Nanking, it is both jarring and perplexing, since he doesn't really appear to have much to do with the people of Nanking during the movie. We can therefore only assume his legend preceded him... although nothing up till this point had suggested this Rabe might be the stuff of legend.*spoilers end* As usual, a ragtag band of white people (led by two "principled Germans", proving "they weren't all bad" a la Schindler and von Stauffenberg) set the moral tone and fight courageously to protect the hapless and defenseless "native" population. That may in fact have been the case, though I really tend to doubt it. And, even if it was exactly thus, it is a scarcely defensible narrative for such a movie in 2009.In the final analysis JOHN RABE seems to have been made as crowd-pleasing award-bait, and judging by the German Film Awards it has racked up it can already be judged as success in those terms. Although the film industry in Germany being what it is, that could also mean simply that there wasn't much in the way of competition this year...Gallenbarter, a 'blue-blood' who won a short film Oscar several year's ago, and who specializes in cultural appropriation (though at least there were a couple of Europeans in this one, not just poor/wretched people of colour), will have wanted to be sure that the fate of his little-watched first feature would not be replicated here. Thus the broadest of broad strokes, sweeping orchestral movements to let us know when we should be feeling something, nothing remotely controversial or 'interesting'... again, in terms of its apparent objectives JOHN RABE can only be termed a success.Juergen Juerges' cinematography as always provides a bright stop in the otherwise unremarkable proceedings.