Looking at everything in sight, the Japanese are actually laughing openly, like a group of "insane demons"! Subsequently, their talons also extended to the Philippines, the United States, the Netherlands, Britain, South Korea and the Soviet Union, killing tens of thousands of people.
The Nanjing Massacre was not only a disaster for China people, but also the beginning of a disaster for all mankind. It was a "warm-up exercise" for the Japanese to slaughter other ethnic groups. The Japanese nation is doomed to be the injurer of this period of human suffering history, and its fate is rooted in the emperor's rule at home. ...
In March 2005, at an academic forum in California, Dr. Joseph gave a speech about the Nanjing Massacre, and said that he was making a documentary to show the atrocities and their causes. This speech shocked Wu Haiyan in the audience. The speaker thought about the Nanjing Massacre from an angle she had never heard of.
This China student, who has been in the United States for three years, just got a master's degree in international relations and Asia-Pacific studies from the University of California, San Diego, and worked as a reporter for CCTV economy for half an hour. In her impression, almost all the traces left by the Nanjing Massacre are accusations. The content of history textbooks and related film and television works, and the testimony of survivors in documentaries. It can be summed up as "suffering" and "hatred", which is Japan's blood debt to China. No one has ever shown this disaster to her from a global and human perspective beyond the specific historical events between China and Japan like this speaker.
Joseph is also interested in this female reporter from China. One month before the speech, he had already started to produce "Nanjing Nightmare" according to his own ideas, and planned to produce a Chinese version so that the film could be broadcast on TV stations in China. Soon, Joseph and Wu Haiyan reached a cooperation agreement, giving her the work of music search, Chinese translation and dubbing.
In the interview, Joseph didn't want to elaborate on the "20 years' efforts and $65.438 billion+investment" repeatedly reported by the media. On the contrary, he stressed that he "didn't put all his thoughts on this (Nanjing nightmare)". The psychologist who graduated from the medical department of the University of Chicago claimed to be a "greedy reader" and a "fan of the history of World War II". In his view, World War II was a "contest between good and evil", and he has always been fascinated by finding the source of evil. In 2004, he filmed "The Diary of Hitler", which was broadcast on many TV stations in the United States, and the ratings were quite high.
He said that his concern about the Nanjing Massacre was purely accidental. In the early 1980s, he came across a history book about the Holocaust, and the words and pictures in it shocked him. "Oh, my God! Japanese people still laugh so happily when they kill people! "
This expert who has studied mental problems for many years feels incredible about this nation. Brutality is the normal state of war, but no matter how cruel people are, they rarely get great pleasure from killing people like the Japanese. "How can there be such a nation, as possessed, in a state of collective insanity?"
Since then, Joseph began to collect historical materials of the Nanjing Massacre, and the facts gradually became clear. Once, he saw a historical document and found that even the Nazis described the Japanese as "demons". He began to clearly realize that this is an incredible and "different from all other atrocities" research sample. Although Joseph stated in advance that "there is no reward for being an assistant", Wu Haiyan agreed without hesitation. In her view, in addition to admiration for this knowledgeable American, "the sense of responsibility as a China person" is also an important reason.
In addition to translation and dubbing, Wu Haiyan is also responsible for data collection. She suggested that Joseph go to China to find historical materials and survivors, but Joseph didn't like to interweave history and present, thinking that it would affect the fluency and authenticity of the narrative. More importantly, the existing pictures and video materials of the Nanjing Massacre mainly exist in the United States and Japan. At that time, China's war correspondents were less than Japanese 1%, and most of them took "propaganda photos" in the rear.
Joseph said that all the documents were obtained from American archives, libraries, photos taken by Japanese and the book Nanjing Massacre by China writer Zhang Chunru. In addition, it "has not been helped by any research institution in China".
Wu Haiyan explained that Joseph is emphasizing the objectivity and neutrality of this documentary, which is also his own attitude towards this period of history. Sometimes, he is objective and neutral to the point of "cold". When editing images, Wu Haiyan often can't bear to watch people's heads drop blood, women are tortured, genitals are cut off, and bodies are burnt. She begged Joseph not to use so many extremely cruel historical materials, because "I don't want my compatriots to look so miserable." Joseph will seriously tell her not to bring emotions to work. "As a journalist, you should know the importance of neutrality."
"But I can't go against my feelings." Wu Haiyan said. When doing narration for Japanese rape and murder of women in China, she had to stare at the picture and tell how women in China were stripped naked, spread out their hands and feet, and chained to chairs for Japanese gang rape hundreds of times ... At this time, she couldn't help retching and burst into tears. Whenever her emotions get out of control, she runs out, dries her tears, calms down, and then goes back to recording.
After doing this for hundreds of times, Wu Haiyan once suffered from depression and often had nightmares. When Joseph found out, he gave her psychotherapy. The reason for her nightmares was "thoroughly analyzed on the scientific level", but he never mentioned "national feelings". Only in his spare time will Joseph point to the car accident on TV and joke with her that you will be happy when the Japanese die.
"Joseph actually knows what I think. He is deliberately reminding me to be objective and neutral. " Wu Haiyan said.
In the later stage of Chinese dubbing, Wu Haiyan once asked why there were 73 1 germ warfare troops and Japanese soldiers killing white people, including Americans. Isn't this beside the point
"Not at all off topic." Joseph was glad that she had raised the question. "The Nanjing Massacre was not an isolated atrocity, nor was it just a disaster for the people of China, but a disaster for all mankind."
In order to reveal the cause of the history of human suffering, Joseph put two photos of Japanese soldiers laughing loudly after killing. "Killing people is happiness for them, not pain. The Japanese were instilled with the idea that the emperor was destined to rule the world from an early age. They have no independent personality before the emperor and must be unconditionally loyal. It is their mission to conquer other countries. They have been trained as demons since childhood, how can they feel guilty! " This 77-minute documentary took six months to make. Joseph is fastidious about every detail. It took him 65,438+000 hours to choose the soundtrack. The doctor, who took Chinese classical music as an elective course in university, repeatedly stressed that music should closely cooperate with images and express emotions objectively and appropriately. Accompanied by China's commentator, Wu Haiyan said the most words: "Don't let the audience hear your thoughts, let them think for themselves!"
"This is actually one of the reasons why the Nanjing Massacre filmed by China cannot enter the Western vision." Wu Haiyan said. In the United States, every anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, Shi Weihui and other societies will hold exhibitions to show historical pictures and documentaries. All the people who can go to see it are from China. Westerners are very resistant to the excessive propaganda and preaching elements in China's documentaries, and they don't quite believe it.
Wu Haiyan's personal experience is that from 1982 to now, China has made more than a dozen films about the Nanjing Massacre, but "the soundtrack and narration are full of vivid feelings without exception, and China people may not feel anything bad after reading them, but they can't get them out internationally".
But the objectivity of Nanjing nightmare has also been questioned. Many netizens who downloaded this movie suggested that the movie ended with the United States dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, which made people feel that "Americans saved China". "How can you turn a blind eye to the contribution of China's army?" In addition, whether the pure national character and psychological analysis can support the cause of the massacre is also a controversial point in this film.
In this regard, Joseph's reaction was quite exciting. He even used several exclamation marks when answering questions: "Of course, I didn't ignore China's own war of resistance! ! ! ..... Don't treat me like a historian! ! I'm a psychiatrist, an artist and a filmmaker! I mainly think about finding answers from my own professional perspective and the needs of the audience. "
"As for the atomic bomb," Joseph said, "the most profound implication is to let the audience see that the devil has been punished and get spiritual comfort." Nightmare in Nanjing has been shown for more than 50 times in three states in the United States, and the audience gave warm applause every time. He explained that "everyone rejoiced at the end of the Japanese".
According to overseas media reports, 70% of the audience are Chinese and 30% are white. Wu Haiyan said that the proportion of white audience is very high. Previously, almost no white people were interested in similar topics. After all, "this history is too strange to them." She does not deny that the appearance of the atomic bomb in the film has greatly narrowed the distance between the United States and the Nanjing Massacre, but she emphasizes that "this does not go against historical facts" and, most importantly, "it has brought very good communication effects". An overseas Chinese used "great" on his blog to describe his feelings about the release of this film. "American enthusiasm and curiosity gushed out like a volcanic eruption." What the reporter of the American Overseas Chinese News saw was that "the auditorium was packed and the corridors were crowded with people". "In Los Angeles and the California Bay Area, several white people watched several performances in succession, including the Chinese version that they didn't understand at all".
After each screening, Joseph and Wu Haiyan were all surrounded by the audience. "They just regard us as historians." Wu Haiyan said. American questions often make her laugh and cry: what is the eight-year war of resistance? Japanese and China are almost the same. Why do they have such hatred? What is Nanjing like now? Have China and Japan resumed diplomatic relations?
Joseph can cope with these problems more calmly than China's assistant. "It is normal for them to ask such questions. If it weren't for accidental contact, I wouldn't know anything about the history of World War II. " He said that when American history textbooks introduced the history of World War II, they only touched on the battlefield in China and made no mention of the Nanjing Massacre. Moreover, the United States, as a "good friend of Japan", is actually an "accomplice" in blurring this history, in order to "make Japan's image in the western world look decent and China people look bad".
"Americans can't see it, and the Japanese don't want to see it." Wu Haiyan said. Joseph once hired a Japanese-American to take charge of the Japanese edition. It didn't take long for this person to start "having an accident". She and Joseph argued fiercely several times. "That's not what I know, it's a lie!" Since then, cooperation has had to be interrupted. After a screening, a Japanese audience rushed to the stage and said to Joseph, "Your film is inaccurate in many places!" " "In addition, they also received anonymous threatening phone calls and emails.
Although the negative and positive feedback are equally strong, Joseph is still full of excitement and sense of accomplishment. Wu Haiyan also be elated. After all, Nanjing's nightmare caused this disaster to cause an unprecedented sensation outside China.
Joseph made a contrast between the Jewish people and China: the persecution and abuse suffered by these two peoples are almost equal, but the history of Jewish oppression by the Nazis is known all over the world, and there are hundreds of movies on related topics, but the Nanjing Massacre "seems to have never happened". He analyzed that one of the important reasons is that Jews are good at using the global media, especially the American media, and the cooperation between China and the global media is still quite small, which leads to the poor "communication effect" of the truth about the Nanjing Massacre.
However, in Wu Haiyan's view, the "losing voice" of the Nanjing Massacre in the west and even the whole world is not only a technical problem. "The original images of the Nanjing Massacre are basically preserved in the United States and Japan, but it seems to have been forgotten." Nowadays, Nightmare in Nanjing has an unprecedented response, largely because the producer is an American.