By Christine Choy and Nancy Tong
At the time of its release The Rape of Nanjing was the American documentary film to examine the December 1937 Rape of Nanjing, when Japanese Imperial troops marched into China's capital city and, in six weeks, murdered 300,000 civilians and systematically raped and killed thousands of women.
In the Name of the Emperor is a monument to the suffering of the Chinese at the hands of the Japanese during World War II. It weaves together rare footage of the Japanese occupation, diary entries from American witnesses, and the personal accounts of surviving Japanese soldiers. It is the first film feature footage of the massacre shot by John McGee, an American missionary who was living in Nanjing, which also served as part of the testimony during the war crimes trial, but has not previously been seen publically.
The Nanjing Massacre was the impetus for the Japanese system of "comfort stations" or military brothels in occupied territories to stem the tide of venereal disease. Included is an interview with a Korean "comfort woman"? who speaks openly about her sexual servitude.
Today, the Japanese government continues to deny it ever happened, and these war crimes continue to disrupt diplomatic relations between Japan, the Philippines, Korea, and Taiwan more than seven decades later.
The horrors captured in this ground breaking documentary draw attention to the exploitation and suffering of civilians during war time and can be used to draw frightening parallels to modern-day atrocities.
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