With the conflicting interests of maintaining strong diplomatic relations with Japan and Chinese nationalism concerning the Nanjing massacre, Hong Kong director Yim Ho and his Chinese counterpart Lu Chuan have struggled to get permission to go ahead with the project from the Chinese government.
The massacre took place in former Chinese capital of Ninjing. According to historians a minimum of 150,000 civilians had been killed, with thousands of chinese women being subjected to rape.
It's a complicated decision because the communist regime wants to allow the project to go forward to reveal the weaknesses of the former Chinese government that fell to the Japanese, while not agitating the general Chinese public to the point where they may start rioting, as they still feel extremely strong about what had happened.
Yim Ho and Lu Chuan went through a tough appraisal process before they were finally approved by the Chinese government. Lu said the process took five months to complete because it was scrutinized by departments not normally associated with film. It was passed under the eyes of not only the Film Bureau, but also the Chinese foreign ministry and the Chinese Communist Party's Central Propaganda Department.
Yim Ho
"This movie touches on the sphere of diplomacy. The government departments that oversee movies aren't the main departments overseeing this movie. That's all I can say," Lu said cautiously.
It's a delicate balancing act as this year is the 70th anniversary of the massacre, and at the same time the 35th anniversary of relations between China and Japan.
While you never really know in China if things will be changed from one moment to another, at this point the project is going forward. It is a story that needs to be told.
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