City of Life and Death/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Complete Monster: Commander Ida, and many of the Japanese soldiers.
    • YMMV is always invoked with that kind of villain, but Ida seems to fit the description perfectly, maybe his relatively low *personal* death score should prevent him from receiving the title though.
  • High Octane Nightmare Fuel: Oh, god. The Rape of Nanking, from beginning to end. No, strike that--the whole movie.
    • The later tragedies top this scene, but for sheer horror it's the part where the Chinese prisoners of war are being buried alive in masses. Or the part where the schoolgirls are raped.
  • Moral Event Horizon: The death of Mr Tang's daughter.
  • Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped: Particularly considering the behaviour of certain Japanese politicians.
  • Stoic Woobie: Mrs. Jiang. As well as the poor women who volunteer to be comfort women sex slaves.
  • Tear Jerker
  • The Woobie: Poor old Mr. Tang.
    • By the end of the film, the whole population of Nanjing.
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