Reviews

I saw this show up on Netflix and decided to give it a try because I adore Jane Leeves from 'Frasier' and Wendy Malick from 'Just Shoot Me'...the other two, eh, I like them OK. First off, I could, unfortunately, tell right away, after 5 minutes into the season premier, that this was NOT going to be a great show. There was a sense of flatness about the dialog, and the laugh track is ridiculous! The premise of the show is shaky at best--the 3 women ending up in CLEVELAND and forgoing Paris?! OK, if you can get past that....I have watched the first 8 episodes over a period of the last two days and while I love seeing Wendy Malick prancing around, elegant and thin as a wraith, I pity Jane Leeves--her character is written so that she comes off as far too bland for her comedic talents--also, looking as beautiful as always yet she has no boyfriend, even in a more accepting Cleveland-- unrealistic. While I have high praise for Betty White's continuing to work at her age, I tired quickly of the age jokes--enough all ready! Valerie Bertinelli is just ANNOYING, cloyingly cutesy and her story lines are boring--she becomes tiresome quickly and doesn't seem AT ALL to belong in a group with the other two. I love Wendy, but honestly, this role is just another re-hash of Nina--yet she is the most vital personality in almost every scene. It seems as if the writers are trying too hard to smash Betty's image from the Golden Girls, as a sweet innocent older woman with a good heart, with this dirty-mouthed old thug she plays here--one grows irritable at her constant use of the words Whore, Prostitute and the related jokes. I know this is a Sitcom, but please, give us more witty dialog, more interesting characters, better plotting! Just because it's a sitcom does not mean such a low quality of writing is acceptable! I'm ready to drop it entirely.

I have studied the man John Rabe through his diaries and other accounts of him from some of the main players such as Minnie Vautrin, Dr. Robert Wilson, Lewis Smythe, etc., and was expecting to see more of his actual work on the Peace Zone and Red Cross committees and perhaps a little less of the personal life--it's nice we got to see some of his relationship with his wife, but I think the movie would have benefited more from detail as to WHY he is so revered in China--he was so intelligent, kind-hearted, and seemed to truly love the Chinese people, and some of this is shown, as well as a little of his naiveté, but it needed MORE. For a character like Rabe you cannot just call him a benevolent Buddha and expect all the viewers to just know the details. I actually enjoyed Buscemi as Dr. Wilson, though I doubt Rabe would've sat still for the Hitler song, even while drinking! Wilson wore himself out, almost to death, in the hospital--where he would've found a moment for such a scene is a question. The one BIG issue that is appallingly inaccurate, to the point of being offensive, is the fictive character of Ms. Dupre. As one who has studied this period and read biographies on the main players, I kept wondering WHERE was Minnie Vautrin, the principal of Jinling Women's College, and WHO was this French woman?? How in the world did the creators of this movie go to such lengths to dramatize Rabe's life in Nanjing, yet make up this silly female character to replace an actual, real, wonderful and strong character like Vautrin? It just made NO sense to me at all. The Chinese called Rabe "The Living Buddha" for the immense efforts he made to save them (and as I said, more of this needed to be shown), and Minnie Vautrin, an American educator who loved China, was called the Goddess of Mercy-- there was no romance between them, but only an immense respect and need to help the Chinese. A romance seems to be implied between Rabe and this Miss Dupre character, which is a ridiculous development, especially leaving out the REAL Vautrin and her work. Also, some of the plots seemed superfluous, such as the development with Rabe's wife, and the emotional level was more shallow than I expected for a film about such a man as Rabe. Not a bad film, but just lacking in so many ways. I almost shut it off half way through, out of sheer frustration with the lack of fact and the made-up characters, but stuck it out. There were glaring errors and a disconnectedness to the story that were too distracting for me personally, however, I do recommend it in the end, if only to those who want to know more about such a great man as John Rabe--though, even for a movie hound like m'self, I think READING about him is better than anything this movie offers.

Just finished watching this with my husband--he likes war films but has no interest in Chinese culture--I am just the opposite, and will rarely watch a war film but am obsessed with China. We watched "John Rabe" a couple of days ago, and wanted to see the comparison viewpoints.

OK, this is my personal opinion only, but I feel that, in spite of the good intentions and honesty of the film, it wandered...there was not really a clear plot and sections were so slow I had to keep my husband from falling asleep--and this is a guy who LOVES war films. The initial scene of the Japanese taking out the guerrilla soldiers in the church is played out excruciatingly, guns popping, little background music, some confusion as to who is who. I kept wondering when the STORY was going to begin. When, about 40 minutes in, we get to meet a few other characters it is a vast relief! We saw this on Netflix and you should know that the subtitles are about 4-5 seconds behind the actual speeches--I speak some Mandarin, but no Japanese, and was constantly irritated at the uncoordinated subtitling. Also, I wanted to see the connections between the characters made more clear; perhaps a title showing where some of the action was taking place would also have been helpful: "Jinling Women's College","Red-Cross hospital",whatever. I also must say that the John Rabe character seemed sort of wussy and did not at all show the kind of strength he actually exhibited (I have read several books on the Nanjing Massacre, Rabe's diary and how others saw him); Minnie Vautrin, who protected so many women and children at Jinling Women's College and personally stood up to Fukuda over the taking of their husbands/sons, etc. was merely a loud-mouthed white woman who seemed in the way at times--in real life,the Chinese women under her care called her the Goddess of Mercy! The role she should have had in the movie was taken by a fictive character called Miss Jiang, probably based on her assistant Mrs. Tsen.

Anyone knowing anything at all about the Rape of Nanjing will wonder about the violence in the movie--this is not a gore-fest or a movie where the violence is displayed as a fetish, like in so many modern movies, but yes, it IS realistic, so be prepared. The director does not spare you in showing the atrocities, but the view of them is not drawn out unbearably and the detail is somewhat muted: no brains flying out, no close-ups of splattered heads, but you do see the lengths the Japanese went to, really, similar to an 'ethnic cleansing', and there is one rape scene that is pretty disturbing, but you don't really see much- -it's the emotional impact that gets you. There are also plenty of scenes dealing with the 'comfort women' that the officers insisted on, and, though a few of them were prostitutes already, most were simply women that were chosen for their looks and grabbed unwillingly. There is also a lot of callous violence against the Chinese citizenry that is simply excessive, even for a war.

Another mention for those who are, like myself, for whatever reason, China-lovers: one of the main characters is a young Japanese soldier who is seen in an almost sympathetic light, as opposed to the majority of them, who do what they do with pleasure and seem to have no human connection at all, not even to the dazed 'comfort women' they literally rape to death. Mr. Tang, who is a fictive figure representing the Chinese assistant to John Rabe, is another character who does what he can to protect his family, but you may not like how he works, and certainly his karma catches up with him pretty quickly. I understand that the director was trying to see things fairly: not all Japanese soldiers were monsters, not all Chinese were saintly martyrs, but I do think too much time was spent on the 'nice' Japanese soldier. The Westerners in the film needed more development, especially considering they role they played in setting up the Safety Zone and protecting so many Chinese--they seemed superfluous and rather powerless in this movie, and that was unfortunate. Yes, it's a Chinese film, but in purporting to give a truthful presentation of facts, fair is fair and Rabe, Minnie Vautrin, Dr. Robert Wilson and Lewis Smythe were minimized to almost nothing here.

The film is slow at times, meandering, has confusing moments and, I think, assumes the viewer is familiar with the history of the era. I believe it needed more dramatic flow, a tighter script, and perhaps more detailed characterizations of the main people; a lot of film footage could have been used better than those first tedious 40-minutes of "battle" time. It is a disturbing film that does show some of the atrocities, but does not go overboard--it is a movie that can be used for enlightenment as well as entertainment of a sort. I still believe a serious viewer needs to do some reading on this subject before they watch, in order to have a sense of what is really going on. Sometimes Chinese movies can be a little maudlin and over-dramatic (though I generally enjoy this!), but there is a good balance in the emotional scenes, and only one towards the end that may be a little much for some people. I did love the Chinese soldiers, just before death, shouting Long Live China!, and there is, even in this intense war film, moments of hope that linger in the heart. I recommend this film to anyone who loves China, who is interested in war, who wants to know some of the real story, who loves intense and honest film-making.

I give it a 6 for the effort, only wishing there were more such movies made that were more in tune with reality. The opening scenes, in America with the boy and his slutty sister, the sluttier "girlfriend", the goofy best friend and the silly game of beach volleyball...well, if you can get past those cliché clunkers then the rest of the film is more worth watching. We get it. Good-looking American boy with a vapid, empty, meaningless party life, doesn't know where to go with it or what he wants to do; Chinese girl from poor family, working in a factory, sick mom, has to take a second job, dreaming of college, such a noble beauty. They meet when his dad sends him to outsource their company's products to a factory in China. Yawn. Because I am so in love with China I'm willing to watch even stuff and nonsense like this, I held on until the boy gets to China. I must say, for a little, "poor" village, apparently just outside the outskirts of Shanghai, it sure is CLEAN! I found myself thinking, Damn, the filmmakers must have paid a big crew to clean up and sweep each scene. NO trash, no beggars, no hookers, no dirty kids, nobody hawking loogies, everybody looking so perfectly clean and neat--I mean, hell, even American cities don't look that nice! Plus, the girl works in a big, roomy, clean factory that makes toilet brushes and such, and actually goes home each night after work, living with her family; this is just not in touch with the facts. This may rarely happen, anything is possible, but is not very probable. The factory girls usually stay in a crowded dorm, waaaay far from home, are umbilically attached to their cell-phones, and are not quite so good with their English, though I suppose that was a plot device here. There were moments that were very good and you could tell the writer had either been to China and was echoing some of his own experiences as a Westerner there, or had talked to a lot of fellow China travelers. At any rate, it was nice to look at, though the plot is rather bland and not a damned thing happens that you don't see coming a mile away. Get a big bowl of popcorn and settle into it if you're bored and want a little something Asian for the weekend. Netflix sux with their choices of Chinese movies anyway, but this one is OK. Tolerable. Enjoyed it like a serving of sesame chicken, then it's gone.