“John Rabe” is the story of — you guessed it — John Rabe, a Schindler-like hero of World War II.
Rabe was a German businessman who was able to save more than 200,000 Chinese during the Japanese siege of Nanking in 1937, during which countless civilians and POWs were raped and slaughtered by the Nippon army — an event that even now Japan officially refuses to fully acknowledge.
Rabe and other Westerners set up a “safe zone,” in which civilians were to be shielded from the Japanese. The agreement didn’t always work, but it did save many lives.
Directed and written by Florian Gallenberger, “John Rabe” is lavishly mounted, with a strong portrayal of Rabe by Ulrich Tukur, the feudal baron in Michael Haneke’s
recent “White Ribbon.”
The fine supporting cast includes Steve Buscemi, as a cynical American doctor who at first doesn’t get along with Rabe; and Anne Consigny, as the French head of a local school for Chinese girls. (The presence of the coeds allows the director to insert a gratuitous scene of full-frontal nudity.)
There are many powerful moments, including a mass beheading, before the film turns into a sappy, Frank Capra-esque affair.
In addition, Gallenberger glosses over Rabe’s poverty-filled life after Nanking and allows for just one lead Chinese character, a camera-toting schoolgirl played by Zhang Jingchu.