Huh...
Saw this on jeffreydeanmorganunlimited.com - a film called Shanghai which has had quite a problematic time trying to get released. It is finally getting a Chinese release next month :) It stars JDM and John Cusack, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Chow Yun-Fat and a whole host of awesome actors. It's set in Japanese occupied Shanghai.
The synopsis goes like this: The story is about an American who returns to a corrupt Japanese occupied Shanghai during the Second World War to discover his friend’s death. While unraveling the mysteries of this death and the seedy underbelly of Shanghai politics he discovers a much larger secret his own government is hiding.
Check out the trailer:
Looks good, yeah? It's actually the first film I've seen in America that really dealt with the Asian theater that wasn't Japan or areas where Americans fought. There might be more, I don't know... It was an extremely bloody time in all of Asia, starting with Japan's invasion and rape of whole countries, including Korea and China. It's a part of world history that isn't particularly well known in America - our system of course concentrates on American soldiers and our part over there which is understandable.
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II is an excellent introductory book if you would like insights into Japanese-occupied China during WWII. The book is not for the faint of heart. It is... extremely disturbing, not just for the fact that people still claim that it didn't happen or insulting revisionist histories. If you ever wondered why there's such tension between Japan and other Asian countries (especially China, Korea and the Philippines), look no further.
Anyways, it'll be an interesting movie, I have no doubts. I hope that we get to see it over here, too! Not just because I want to see JDM in uniform...
ETA: I just realized I made it sound like the movie might have something to do with the book.... it doesn't. I just tend to rec that book whenever I talk about China during WWII. *shrugs*
Crossposted with Dreamwidth here: http://silentflux.dreamwidth.org/157306.html
The synopsis goes like this: The story is about an American who returns to a corrupt Japanese occupied Shanghai during the Second World War to discover his friend’s death. While unraveling the mysteries of this death and the seedy underbelly of Shanghai politics he discovers a much larger secret his own government is hiding.
Check out the trailer:
Click to viewLooks good, yeah? It's actually the first film I've seen in America that really dealt with the Asian theater that wasn't Japan or areas where Americans fought. There might be more, I don't know... It was an extremely bloody time in all of Asia, starting with Japan's invasion and rape of whole countries, including Korea and China. It's a part of world history that isn't particularly well known in America - our system of course concentrates on American soldiers and our part over there which is understandable.
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II is an excellent introductory book if you would like insights into Japanese-occupied China during WWII. The book is not for the faint of heart. It is... extremely disturbing, not just for the fact that people still claim that it didn't happen or insulting revisionist histories. If you ever wondered why there's such tension between Japan and other Asian countries (especially China, Korea and the Philippines), look no further.
Anyways, it'll be an interesting movie, I have no doubts. I hope that we get to see it over here, too! Not just because I want to see JDM in uniform...
ETA: I just realized I made it sound like the movie might have something to do with the book.... it doesn't. I just tend to rec that book whenever I talk about China during WWII. *shrugs*
Crossposted with Dreamwidth here: http://silentflux.dreamwidth.org/157306.html