john rabe ( released in the united kingdom as city of war : the story of john rabe ) is a 2009 german-chinese-french biopictorial film directed by florian gallenberger and starring ulrich tukur , daniel brühl and steve buscemi .

it focuses upon the experiences of john rabe , a german businessman who used his nazi party membership to create a protective international safety zone in nanking , china , helping to save over 200,000 chinese from the nanking massacre in late 1937 and early 1938 .

the massacre and its associated atrocities were committed subsequent to the battle of nanking by the invading imperial japanese army after they defeated the chinese nationalist forces defending the city during the second sino-japanese war .

based upon john rabe 's published wartime diaries , shooting for the film commenced in 2007 , and it premiered at the 59th berlin international film festival on 7 february 2009 .

upon the film 's release it did not receive theatrical distribution in japan and was the subject of vociferous refutations by japanese ultranationalists who denied the events ever took place .

john rabe ( film )

john rabe is the clear favourite for this year ' s german film awards after picking up seven nominations including best film , and best director for florian gallenberger .
ulrich tukur ( centre ) in city of war : the story of john rabe .
actor ulrich tukur and director florian gallenberger attend the ' john rabe ' . . .
a gray zone : john rabe ( ulrich tukur , second from left ) surveys the damage wrought by invading japanese troops in a scene from florian gallenberger ' s john rabe .
do you agree with the idea to make a film about john rabe ? please include your full name and country with any reply .
actor steve buscemi attends the ' john rabe ' photocall during the 59th berlin . . .
actress anne consigny attends the ' john rabe ' photocall during the 59th berlin . . .
john rabe is expected to be widely viewed in china after it premieres at the shanghai film festival in june . but it is unclear whether the film will be released in japanese cinemas .
letter from john rabe , chair of safety zone , to mr . hidaka of the japanese embassy
actors ulrich tukur and dagmar manzel attends the ' john rabe ' photocall during the . . .
actors steve buscemi and anne consigny attends the ' john rabe ' photocall during the . . .
florian gallenberger , whose film “john rabe” is based on a true story of the courage of a siemens executive during the 1937 nanjing massacre , told reuters his film could also , belatedly , shed light on rabe’s long - overlooked heroism .
was born in munich in 1972 . he studied at the renowned university of television and film in munich . with his thesis film quiero ser ( 2000 ) gallenberger received the honorary foreign film award at the student academy awards® and an academy award® for best live action short film . his debut feature shadows of time ( 2004 ) won the bavarian film award for best new director . his second feature , john rabe ( 2009 ) premiered at the berlin international film festival and received two bavarian film awards and four german film awards , including best film . his third feature film , colonia ( 2015 ) received the bavarian film award for best film and was nominated for five german film awards . gallenberger is also a professor at the university of television and film in munich .
drawn from rabe ' s diaries , the film is rich in telling and ironic details .
the film ' s director florian gallenberger says it was by staying true to the events as described by rabe that the film achieved neutrality .
a gray zone : john rabe ( ulrich tukur , second from left ) surveys the damage wrought by invading japanese troops in a scene from florian gallenberger ' s john rabe . strand releasing hide caption
the director and major cast members of
john rabe
will travel to china for the film ' s asia premiere in beijing on april 28 .
pose with guests as they attend the ' john rabe ' photocall during the 59th berlin international film festival at the grand hyatt hotel on . . .
“i have to admit to my great shame that before starting this project i didn’t know anything about john rabe either , ” gallenberger said after his film’s well - received world premiere at the berlin film festival .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing john rabe near you .
“it’s taken more than 70 years for john rabe to get the recognition he deserves , ” he said .
john rabe
has garnered seven nominations for the german film awards , dubbed the german oscars , in categories such as best film , best director , best actor , best cinematography which will disclose on friday .
the film premiered at the 2016 telluride film festival . the frame host john horn spoke with monro then about why he chose to focus on this part of lewis’ career .
letter from john rabe to shanghai nanking relief association , attn : rev . p . f . price , chairman
berlin - -
john rabe ,
florian gallenberger ' s true story of
china ' s oskar schindler ,
was the big winner of the 2009 german film awards , winning four lolas , including best film .
actor steve buscemi attends the ' john rabe ' photocall during the 59th berlin international film festival at the grand hyatt hotel on february 6 , 2009 in berlin , germany .
actress anne consigny attends the ' john rabe ' photocall during the 59th berlin international film festival at the grand hyatt hotel on february 6 , 2009 in berlin , germany .
on christmas eve in 1937 , german businessman john rabe visited the mortuary in china ' s then capital , nanjing .
letter from john rabe , chair of safety zone , to mr . tokuyasu fukuda , an attaché to the japanese embassy
the two competing projects opened last year in china , and the 700 - print release of
john rabe
was the largest opening of a german film outside of germany .
actor steve buscemi and director florian gallenberger attend the john rabe photocall during the 59th berlin international film festival at the grand hyatt hotel on february 6 , 2009 in berlin , germany .
shelter under the swastika : the john rabe story in 1937 , john rabe - - a native of germany and a member of the nazi party - - helped to save the lives of thousands of chinese civilians during the rape of nanking . now he ' s the subject of an eponymous movie . reporter pat dowell sits down with john rabe director florian gallenberger and co - star steve buscemi to discuss the making of the film , rabe ' s legacy and history ' s gray areas .
actors ulrich tukur and dagmar manzel attends the ' john rabe ' photocall during the 59th berlin international film festival at the grand hyatt hotel on february 6 , 2009 in berlin , germany .
actors steve buscemi and anne consigny attends the ' john rabe ' photocall during the 59th berlin international film festival at the grand hyatt hotel on february 6 , 2009 in berlin , germany .
the film ' s producers hope that the involvement of japanese star teruyuki kagawa will prevent the film from being silenced there .
actor ulrich tukur and director florian gallenberger attend the ' john rabe ' photocall during the 59th berlin international film festival at the grand hyatt hotel on february 6 , 2009 in berlin , germany .
the film ' s nominations include best film , best director for florian gallenberger and a best actor mention for star ulrich tukur .
watch the trailer in high definition on apple . john rabe will hit theaters in new york city and los angeles on may 21st .
john rabe wanders farther from plausibility as it continues , introducing a japanese officer who warns of an imminent raid on the safety zone , and ultimately contriving a triumphant send - off for rabe .
the diaries of this unlikely and unsung hero only became public knowledge in the late 1990s , when they were published in germany . they have now been made into a film , simply titled john rabe .
it ' s worth seeing this feature about the heroic figure of john rabe , even though the movie leaves much to be desired dramatically .
john rabe was a german businessman who is best known for his efforts to stop the atrocities of the japanese army during the nanking massacre .
gallenberger ' s film ,
john rabe ,
which stars ulrich tukur , steve buscemi and daniel brühl , was filmed entirely in china and has an epic , old - fashioned sweep . and although it can ' t match rabe ' s true heroism , the story behind the making of the film is the stuff of intrigue as well .
strand releasing has released the official us trailer for florian gallenberger ‘s historical drama john rabe . the film tells the true - story of a german businessman who saved more than 200 , 000 chinese during the 1937 nanjing massacre . german actor ulrich tukur ( the white ribbon ) stars as john rabe , alongside daniel brühl ( inglourious basterds ) , steve buscemi , anne consigny , jingchu zhang , and teruyuki kagawa . the film won the outstanding feature film , best costume design , best production design and best performance by an actor in a leading role at the german film awards .
from oscar winner caroline link , took the runner - up silver best film lola as well as the film music nod for composer niki reiser .
german - chinese co - production plans john rabe movie | culture | arts , music and lifestyle reporting from germany | dw | 27 . 09 . 2007
a wonderful movie full of suspense . during world war 11 , when evil was rampant , diplomat john rabe saved many chinese people from being killed by the japanese invasion . the acting was wonderful . i really emotionally got involved with this movie .
john rabe
shows that one humane person can make a difference .
movie review - ' john rabe ' - in a grim nanking , false notes of hope during the second sino - japanese war , german businessman john rabe ( ulrich tukur ) leads a committee of foreigners who help save chinese citizens from japanese war crimes . florian gallenberger ' s film delivers an artful look at the nanking massacre , but disappoints when it comes to fleshing out the lives of its samaritans .
controversially , the film speculates on his involvement in the decision - making process .
if you haven ' t heard of john rabe , you ' re not alone . the director who made a film about
the oskar schindler of china
hadn ' t heard of him either . florian gallenberger first knew of rabe when a producer who had the rights to his story approached him with the project .
a serious , large - budget treatment of rabe ' s exploits and a moving , terrific film about trying to maintain one ' s decency amidst horrors .
ulrich tukur ( center , bald with gray coat and glasses ) stars as the title character ,
john rabe ,
a german / chinese co - production directed by florian gallenberger . the film also stars steve buscemi ( behind . . . more
( 3r ) and dagmar manzel ( 2r ) pose with director florian gallenberger ( r ) as they attend the ' john rabe ' photocall during the 59th berlin international film festival at the grand hyatt hotel on february 6 , 2009 in . . .
coming to light nearly 60 years after the event , he says that john rabe ' s diaries are a powerful new document detailing what happened day - by - day .
berlin — florian gallenberger’s wwii drama “john rabe , ” the true story of a german industrialist who saved 200 , 000 chinese during the japanese invasion of nanjing , leads the pack among this year’s nominees for the german film awards , also known as the lolas .
steve buscemi , ulrich tukur , dagmar manzel , director florian gallenberger and anne consigny pose with guests as they attend the ' john rabe ' photocall during the 59th berlin international film festival at the grand hyatt hotel on february 6 , 2009 in berlin , germany .
from the outset of “john rabe” you are uncomfortably aware of watching a wartime melodrama that , despite its honorable intentions , will throw in any emotional ploy to keep you engaged .
in addition to john rabe , best film nominations were bestowed on uli edel ' s the baader meinhof complex , ozgur yildirim ' s chiko , christian petzold ' s jerichow , andreas dresen ' s cloud 9 and caroline link ' s a year ago in winter .
berlin - -
john rabe ,
a historic biopic about the german businessman who saved 200 , 000 chinese civilians from the nanking massacre , is the front - runner for this year ' s german film awards - - or lolas - - with seven nominations .
the moviegoer is a regular column on new and noteworthy films , actors and directors by john anderson .
in december 1937 , he set up the nanjing international safety zone committee with a group of foreign friends , which saved hundreds of thousands of local residents in one month during the notorious massacre . rabe sheltered thousands of chinese refugees in his own house over the course of the massacre and protected them from being killed . the announcement of the film comes just weeks after the john rabe house development fund was set up in nanjing as part of the 3 - year - long
germany and china - - moving ahead together
campaign . the charitable fund will seek to generate revenue to support the john rabe and international safety zone memorial hall , and john rabe international research and exchange center for peace and reconciliation .
actors steve buscemi ( 3r ) and dagmar manzel ( 2r ) pose with director florian gallenberger ( r ) as they attend the ' john rabe ' photocall during the 59th berlin international film festival at the grand hyatt hotel on february 6 , 2009 in berlin , germany .
gallenberger , whose film cost about 18 million euros ( $ 23 million ) to make , said there have been other films made about rabe in china . but because rabe’s story was misused for propaganda purposes , the world never really took notice before .
david denby has been a staff writer and film critic at the new yorker since 1998 .
the battle of wills between lavrentiy beria and nikita khrushchev propels the film’s most pointed satire .
john rabe : starts next friday at the presidio theatre , 2340 chestnut st . , s . f . ( 415 ) 776 - 2388 . urltoken ; and the rialto cinemas elmwood ,
rg 8 : box 141 folder 15 : mills , w . plumer - correspondence to family march 9 - 20 , 1938 letter of h . maxcy smith incl . talk by john rabe
prior to watching this file , i have read john rabe ' s diary as well as iris chang ' s the rape of nanking . i have also watched many documentaries and movies made about the subject from china as well as from the us . i found this film to be one of better film on this subject than most of the other ones in existence today . the film is based primarily on the actual diary of john rabe . certain details were filled - in by the excellent and exhaustive work of iris chang ' s the rape of nanking . the importance of john rabe ' s diary as opposed to the other accounts of what happened during the massacred is the fact that john rabe was a german nazi party member that was working for siemen in china . germany was an allied of japan at the time and there would have been no reason for john rabe to have lied about atrocities committed by the japanese if it did not actually happened . also since john was mainly writing this as a personal diary for himself , there does not seem to be any reason for him to have exaggerated his description of the event . as a result , his diary is probably the credible historical account of the what actually happened in nanking . i found some the chinese version of the film on the subject seemed a little removed from the complex character interactions between most of these reluctant heroes of war . as a result , those movies does not seem quite as genuine and touching as this film . most the events from this film seems very accurate or at least true to the overall sense of john rabe ' s diary . obviously some of the atrocities had to be consolidated to be able to fit those events into a slightly over two hour film . but one of the most puzzling inaccuracy of the film was the fictional character valérie dupres at the international girls college . why was it necessary for the film to use a fictional character ' s name instead of the actual courageous heroine minnie vaultrin from the ginling girls college . she had done so much during the massacred that it seems unfair to not use her real name in the film . this is my primary reason for not giving this film a perfect 10 . if anyone can provide an explanation as to why minnie vaultrin name was not used in this film , i really would appreciate it .
wilson , as portrayed in the film , is skeptical about rabe ' s sincerity but grows to respect him . in his letters , wilson marveled that such a good man as rabe could remain a supporter of adolf hitler . rabe wrote to hitler , convinced that he would intervene to help the chinese civilians . he never received a reply .
one of the main virtues of john rabe is to demonstrate that , however much we know about the worst of all wars , it still has little - known corners that can amaze us .
rabe ' s home in downtown nanjing , meanwhile , has been restored and turned into a museum called the john rabe memorial hall , which commemorates the work of the international safety zone committee that he headed . it opened in 2006 and also houses a research center for peace .
rabe was an electrical equipment executive in nanjing , then the national capital of china .
from papers of minnie vautrin , in record groups no . 8 and 11 , and film ms62
chang ' s book and the rabe diaries , which were both published in the late 1990s , have sparked a resurgence of interest in the massacre - - and in rabe .
the story of john rabe , a german businessman who saved 200 , 000 chinese civilians from the nanking massacre of 1937 , also won lolas for star ulrich tukur , art direction , and costume design .
an impressive film , with a careful and emotive story . . . [ full review in spanish ]
however , despite being the most commercially successful of the best film nominees , went home empty handed .
“they wanted to screen the film , ” gallenberger says , “which i thought was right on . ”
berlin - - germans don ' t have many feel - good movie stories about world war ii , so the world premiere of
john rabe
at the berlinale is certainly cause for local celebration . even though he was a member of the nazi party , john rabe was , as the german title of his published diaries suggests ,
the good german of nanking .
the middle - aged , balding rabe is his country ' s oskar schindler , a man who could not abandon his conscience .
a good german : industrialist john rabe ( ulrich tukur , center left , with steve buscemi , anne consigny and daniel bruhl ) helps shelter chinese civilians from japanese invaders in 1930s nanking . strand releasing hide caption
john rabe , a german businessman saved thousands of chinese from japanese soldiers during wwii . dw - world . de spoke with erwin wickert , the editor of his diaries . ( 11 . 11 . 2006 )
official plot synopsis : based on a true story , john rabe tells the story of a german businessman who rescued more than 200 , 000 civilians during the so—called “nanking massacre” in china . drawing from john rabe’s 1937 diaries as source material , academy award ® winner florian gallenberger has crafted a portrait of a man revered as a saint in china to this day and yet never rewarded for his courage during his lifetime .
a daily chronicle of creativity in film , tv , music , arts and entertainment produced by southern california public radio . host john horn leads the conversation , accompanied by the nation ' s most plugged - in cultural journalists .
german film director florian gallenberger is seen in san francisco , calif . on tuesday june 22 , 2010 .
production : a majestic filmverleih release of a hofmann & voges entertainment , eos entertainment , majestic filmproduktion production , in association with zdf , pampa prod . , huayi brothers , lunaris film & fernsehproduktion . ( international sales : beta cinema , oberhaching , germany . ) produced by mischa hofmann , benjamin herrmann , jan mojto . executive producer , caroline von senden . co - producers , nicolas traube , wang zhongjun , wang zhonglei . directed , written by florian gallenberger , inspired by john rabe’s diaries published as “john rabe : der gute deutsche von nanjing . ”
john rabe is a movie starring ulrich tukur , daniel brühl , and steve buscemi . a true - story account of a german businessman who saved more than 200 , 000 chinese during the nanjing massacre in 1937 - 38 .
the german actor ulrich tukur , now appearing as the reluctantly heroic title character of the historical drama “john rabe , ” has a 1930s fixation . “he wears clothes from the ’30s , ” says his director , florian gallenberger . “he has that aesthetic , the slightly too - short trousers , the cuts of his suits ; he loves the music of the ’30s . he fits the time . and he really looks like the real john rabe . ”
there are intense scenes of crossfire in the film , but the way lu focuses on humanity is more breathtaking .
christina choe’s brand of art - film hopelessness is vain , deriving from a fetishizing of “keeping it real . ”
with : ulrich tukur ( john rabe ) , daniel brühl ( dr . georg rosen ) , anne consigny ( valérie duprès ) , dagmar manzel ( dora rabe ) , zhang jingchu ( langshu ) , teruyuki kagawa ( prince asaka yasuhiko ) , mathias herrmann ( werner fliess ) and steve buscemi ( dr . robert wilson ) .
opens 5 / 21 at quad cinema in nyc and 6 / 4 at laemmle theatres in los angeles based on a true story , john rabe tells the story of a german businessman who rescued more than 200 , 000 civilians during the so - called nanking massacre in china . drawing from john rabes 1937 diaries as source material , academy award ® winner florian gallenberger has crafted a portrait of a man revered as a saint in china to this day and yet never rewarded for his courage during his lifetime . an official selection at the berlin film festival . winner of 4 golden lolas , germany ' s top film prize , for best film , best actor , best costume and best production design .
mr kirby says that rabe had
no anti - japanese axe to grind
at the outset .
rabe , born in hamburg in 1882 , was a business representative for siemens in nanking from 1931 .
the scene was suggested by historical photos that showed the real rabe using the nazi flag to construct makeshift shelters for the more than 600 chinese refugees who camped out at his house and in his garden after the japanese army took over nanjing . this paradoxical image - - the swastika as refuge - - fascinates john rabe director florian gallenberger .
gallenberger , it turns out , was a perfect choice to direct
john rabe .
like its hero , he ' s a man who seems most at home in foreign lands . the 38 - year - old munich native got his start directing a short film in mexico ,
quiero ser ( i want to be . . . ) ,
which won an academy award . his next film was set in india , where he spent two years .
following in the hollywood footsteps of world war ii nazi - turned - hero oskar schindler , fellow third reich follower john rabe is to be the subject of a new $ 20 million ( 14 . 2 million euro ) tinseltown blockbuster .
legal document by chairman of board of university of nanking , john w decker , giving bates power of attorney for u . of nanking
ulrich tukur ( center , bald with gray coat and glasses ) stars as the title character ,
john rabe ,
a german / chinese co - production directed by florian gallenberger . the film also stars steve buscemi ( behind tukur ) , anne consigny ( behind buscemi ) and danielbruhl ( in black coat and mustache , next to buscemi ) . less
berlin — florian gallenberger’s wwii drama “john rabe , ” the true story of a german industrialist who saved 200 , 000 chinese during the japanese invasion of nanjing , leads the pack among this year’s nominees for the german film awards , also known as the lolas . pic , which was filmed on location in nanjing and shanghai , garnered seven nominations , [ … ]
he says rabe ' s courage was fuelled by his sense of morality , rather than any political conviction .
john rabe was an ordinary german businessman in china when the japanese invaded nanking in 1937 . nearly 70 years later , a memorial was dedicated to the
good german
who saved thousands of chinese lives . ( 08 . 11 . 2006 )
hundreds of thousands in the city sought shelter in a safety zone set up by foreign businessmen , doctors and educators - - and it ' s the story of that effort to shelter civilians that ' s at the center of the cinematic drama john rabe .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
“it’s an extremely controversial subject in japan and there are fears there could be severe repercussions . i hope the film won’t be silenced in japan . i’d very much hope this film could help get an opening - up of discussion going in japan . ”
john rabe was a real german businessman who lived in nanking , now called nanjing ; for decades , he managed the operations of the siemens company there . a member of the nazi party , rabe had never been to hitler ' s germany or seen firsthand what was going on there ; even so , he didn ' t believe the mounting criticisms he heard about hitler . germany and japan were allies , and in the film , when japanese planes first bomb the city , rabe and his workers unfurl a giant nazi flag like a canopy over their heads , in hopes the japanese pilots will spare them .
based on a true story ,
john rabe
is an epic world war ii saga , telling of horror and mass murder on the other side of the globe . it is december 1937 and we are made witness to the rape of nanking in which approximately 300 , 000 chinese citizens were brutally massacred by the japanese with a wink and a nod from the nazis . we witness this horror through the eyes of john rabe , the manager of the siemens plant in nanking . integrating multiple languages and real news footage , this is a masterfully crafted film , deserving of high praise . while difficult to watch , it is worthy of your attention .
it is a tale of a true hero , even if in its minor details it ' s less than entirely true . for a movie with ambitions as big as
john rabe ,
that doesn ' t just make it good . that makes it epic .
there are many powerful moments , including a mass beheading , before the film turns into a sappy , frank capra - esque affair .
like shindler ' s list , this is a difficult film to watch due to the accuracy with which the japanese atrocities are portrayed .
with its solid performances and sweeping set pieces in which japanese planes swoop through the streets like mad , fire - spitting bats , “john rabe , ” has its visceral moments . but it is also burdened by manipulative clichés of a screenplay in which exposition outweighs character development . inspired by rabe’s diaries , from which short excerpts are read , it tells the story almost exclusively from a western point of view .
the film also picked up nominations for best lead actor for ulrich tukur , best supporting actor steve buscemi and best cinematography for juergen juerges .
…a straightforward narrative and handsomely designed , big - scale production . drawn from rabe ' s diaries , the film is rich in telling and ironic details . a formidable actor who came to international attention in the 2005 best foreign film oscar winner
the lives of others
as a staunch stasi official , tukur has a quietly galvanic presence — and even resembles the actual rabe , who died in poverty in berlin in 1950 , his humanitarianism not honored in germany until 2003 . ” ( kevin thomas – los angeles times )
rabe had worked in china for siemens for 30 years and was about to return to the headquarters in berlin when the invasion began . as germany and japan were allies , rabe used his nazi party membership and did all he could to protect the civilians .
the german director florian gallenberger has made rabe the central figure in an old - fashioned historical epic that covers much of the same territory as the 2007 documentary “nanking , ” in which rabe ( pronounced rah - bay ) is mentioned . because its hero was a “good nazi” who courageously acted on his humanitarian impulses , “john rabe” has a lot in common with “schindler’s list . ” but despite its gruesome scenes of hundreds of chinese prisoners of war being lined up and executed and its ostentatious shots of severed heads , the movie is less than indelible .
in theaters : may 21st , 2010 genre : drama , foreign based on a true story , john rabe tells the story of a german businessman who rescued more than 200 , 000 civilians during the so—called nanking massacre in china . drawing from john rabes 1937 diaries as source material , academy award ® winner florian gallenberger has crafted a portrait of a man revered as a saint in china to this day and yet never rewarded for his courage during his lifetime .
the film will open nationwide on april 29 , building on momentum from its successful test screenings in major cities like beijing , shanghai and guangzhou .
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some films are all about fun , and escapism , and some - not so much . such is the case with john rabe , which has just started shooting in shanghai , a story based around the horrific nanjing massacre in 1937 when japanese forces invaded and pillaged the chinese city of nanjing , leaving between 150 , 000 and 300 , 000 people dead . but despite its sombre premise , the film has attracted a rather impressive international cast .
a historical horror story from the 1930s , john rabe could have been made in that decade . the movie , named for a german industrialist who helped save perhaps 250 , 000 chinese civilians from rampaging japanese troops , melds stark reality and sentimental fiction in a style that lost its edge decades ago .
the german actor ulrich tukur brings an understated intensity and psychological depth to the title role of “john rabe , ” a sweeping historical film that exalts a largely unsung real - life hero who risked his life to do the right thing . rabe , a nazi german industrialist stationed in china , is credited with saving the lives of more than 200 , 000 chinese during the infamous 1937 massacre in nanking ( now nanjing ) in the second sino - japanese war . in a matter of weeks , the japanese slaughtered at least 200 , 000 civilians and prisoners of war and committed mass rape .
teruyuki kagawa says :
when faced with this film , many people will be shocked [ to learn ] the japanese carried out such cruel acts .
not that it will matter to most audiences . who the heck is john rabe ? “i hadn’t heard of this guy , ” gallenberger admits . but it’s not the same in china : credited with having saved 250 , 000 people during the so - called rape of nanking , rabe is revered there , even though the entire incident — in which invading japanese troops in 1937 committed wholesale atrocities — has long been problematic on a multinational level .
letter from lewis smythe to dr . g rosen , german embassy , mr . e . w . jeffery , british embassy and mr . john m . allison , american embassy
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
as sharply as it delineates an america of spotty , informal economies , the film avoids articulating most of the people who live and work in these spaces .
for the most part , though , the film’s story is one of heroism in the face of potentially deadly circumstances . in itself , this is not necessarily an objectionable premise for a film and my point is not to suggest that rabe and his compatriots weren’t heroic , but when the film ends with the chinese people cheering that man’s final advance , while his colleagues toast him with a round of “for he’s a jolly good fellow , ” it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that as many chinese lost their lives in nanking as were saved , while rabe was free to sail comfortably home—even if his future remained uncertain and his heroism wasn’t always recognized . there are , as always , a nearly infinite number of possible lines of inquiry to pursue when crafting a film about a historical event and rabe as a real - life figure certainly deserves his recognition . but a movie that sentimentalizes that figure’s heroism while presenting the chinese as ciphers defined only through their victimhood is probably not the strategy likely to yield the most salutary cinematic results .
written and directed by florian gallenberger , based on the diaries of john rabe ; director of photography , jürgen jürges ; edited by hansjörg weissbrich ; music by laurent petitgirard and annette focks ; production designer , tu juhua ; costumes by lisy christl ; produced by mischa hofmann , jan mojto and benjamin herrmann ; released by strand releasing . at the quad cinema , 34 west 13th street , greenwich village . running time : 2 hours 10 minutes . this film is not rated .
after 28 years building and managing a vast siemens plant in nanking , john rabe is ordered by the new nazi regime to close it down . before he can pack , the japanese army , lead unofficially by a bloodthirsty imperial uncle , lays siege to the city . rabe accepts , as prominent representative of japans ' major european ally , to head the western ex - pats society ' s plan to start and run an international zone , like worked in shangai . rabe however wants it to save his workers and their close ones , over 200 , 000 , and sacrifices all his personal interests .
buscemi came to the project close to the start of shooting in october 2007 . gallenberger had already been working on the film for nearly three years , trying to negotiate his way through various chinese ministries to get permits to shoot his film in china . gallenberger couldn ' t imagine shooting anywhere else , he says .
moody and diabetic , rabe initially clashes with robert wilson ( steve buscemi ) , a cynical american doctor on the committee who despises rabe’s nazi associations . but by the end of a drunken evening together , they are both singing the “colonel bogey march” with scabrous anti - hitler lyrics .
in 1937 , japanese army has just captured the capital of the china , nanjing . what followed was known as the nanking massacre , or the rape of nanking , a period of several weeks wherein tens of thousands of chinese were killed . the film tells the story of several figures , both historical and fictional , including a chinese soldier , a schoolteacher , a japanese soldier , a foreign missionary , and john rabe , a nazi businessman who would ultimately save thousands of chinese civilians
reviewed online , chicago , jan . 20 , 2015 . ( in 2015 tribeca film festival . ) mpaa rating : r . running time : 93 min .
he stumbled across a white - haired man in his 80s who turned out to have been sheltered in rabe ' s house during the massacre .
john rabe
is a very glossy and well done film about the actions of rabe and a few other foreigners in saving as many of the residents of nanking as they could during the japanese invasion . the airplane attacks and look of the film were absolutely great - - and the film is well worth seeing . i am very familiar with the story of john rabe and used to teach my world history students about him and the japanese destruction of nanking ( i have since retired ) . much of what i ' d learned were from the book
the rape of nanking
as well as several well made documentaries . so , i am not the typical person watching the story for the first time - - i am a bit tougher to please . because of this , i am much more critical that average and to me , the story was flawed because it actually seemed very sanitized . in other words , while the film did show some of the japanese atrocities , it didn ' t do much - - probably because it would nauseate most viewers . but , by doing so , it minimized the evil that was perpetrated here - - making the japanese troops seem almost normal . it ' s rare , but i would have included much more blood and talked much more about the rapes and murder of children . evil must not be minimized and here it just didn ' t seem as sadistic and wrong as the rape of nanking was .
china was in flames when a german businessman became a reluctant hero . when the imperial japanese army invaded china in 1937 and attacked the civilian population of the capital nanking with unprecedented inhumanity , john rabe took action . along with a few other members of the foreign community including doctors and missionaries who remained in the city , he created a safety zone in which a quarter of a million civilians survived what was later to go down in history as the
nanking massacre
. john rabe had become long forgotten by the time his diaries were rediscovered ten years ago . they now form the basis for florian gallenberger ' s fascinating account of what john rabe , then head of siemens china co . , did in those turbulent times . to this day he is still revered in china , but he has never been commended , much less rewarded , for his courage and decency in his own country . upon his return to germany in 1938 , he was arrested by the gestapo for collaborating with the chinese . he died in poverty soon after world war ii . the new york times recently referred to rabe as
the schindler of china
.
the film john rabe is movie about two things , both interesting , both unknown , and both controversial : the
good
nazi , and the rape of nanking . there have only been a few films about
good
nazis that i know of , although i ' m sure there are others i ' m missing , this film , seven years in tibet , and the 49th parallel . this alone makes this film interesting . but john rabe ( the film ) is also about the rape of nanking , the atrocities committed by the japanese military to the chinese people in the city of nanking . this also would be enough to make this movie interesting . so we have a movie with two interesting topics , but ultimately fails as a compelling work . why ? the director pulled far too many punches in regards to the violence of nanking . maybe i ' m a little hardened by watching films , but there was nothing about this movie that jumped out at me and drove home the lawlessness and violence of the japanese occupation of nanking . there is no way to show this and be discreet . the middle of the film was crying for a lurid montage of gang rapes , flies on corpses , and the worst depravities you can think of . john rabe ' s own diaries describe many of these , you wouldn ' t have even had to think up any of your own and you could have had his character narrated the whole thing . the film fails in depicting the rape of nanking , but it also fails in depicting the good nazi too . the movie needed a moment , several years later , with john rabe confronting the nazi atrocities in wwii and comparing them with the japanese atrocities in nanking . we need to see him understand what his own people have done and what his membership in the nazi party truly means as a stain on his character . we needed to see him understand that and tear up his membership card or something . we , however , do not and the movie is much the poorer because of it . despite this , the movie is still beautifully shot , with good production value , limited but effective cgi , and wonderfully acted . the movie is ultimately frustratingly incomplete and is not the best that could have been done with the material , but it was enjoyable while it lasted .
production : hofmann & voges entertainment / eos entertainment / majestic filmsproduktion in association with zdf / pampa prods . / huayi brothers media corp . / lunaris film und fernsehproduktion
the chinese authorities eventually approved gallenberger ' s project , although they pushed ahead with their own film on the nanking massacre ,
city of life and death .
rabe returned to nanjing , in a way . his remains were not preserved at his burial site in berlin , and all that remained was his tombstone . in 1997 , it was removed to china and given a place of honor in the nanjing massacre memorial hall , where gallenberger saw it as he researched his film .
bruhl ' s character feels like it was slipped in to deliver a german - jewish viewpoint , which leaves him less involved in the developing storyline . the same goes for dagmar manzel as rabe ' s loyal wife , a character designed to up the fictional ante - - as if the film really needed more emotionalism .
when gallenberger ' s film opened in china , it was the biggest release ever for a german film outside germany , he says . but the film has not been seen in japan , where the facts of the nanjing massacre - - including the number of victims , the size of the area in which killings are counted , even the number of days to be included by those measuring the massacre - - are still hotly debated among academics , politicians and political activists . gallenberger says he has been told that his film is banned in japan , but he thinks it ' s just that
no distributor really has the guts to take it
because of the potential protests .
now with historical distance , the 37 - year - old director hopes the film will trigger a new dialogue and help japan also come to terms with its own past .
florian gallenberger’s “john rabe , ” an award - winner in germany , is not a great film , but it tells an affecting story of the second world war , and one virtually unknown in america . gallenberger’s hero , john rabe ( ulrich tukur ) , was a german businessman and nazi party member who ran the siemens plant in nanking , china . in december , 1937 , as the imperial japanese army approached the city , rabe , trading on his party membership and on the german - japanese alliance , and aided by a few other foreigners , including the american doctor robert wilson ( steve buscemi ) , set up , with the imperial army’s grudging permission , a three - and - a - half - square - mile safety zone within the city . ( before the invasion , some of rabe’s workers had literally hidden from an air raid under an enormous nazi flag spread out flat on the ground . ) during the “rape of nanking , ” beginning in mid - december and continuing for six weeks , at least two hundred thousand chinese sheltered inside the zone , while the japanese occupiers murdered as many as three hundred thousand people in the city , many of them civilians .
rabe even wrote to adolf hitler asking for his intervention in the violence , as he believed the nazi leader would not have condoned japan ' s actions .
this is an excellent film about one of the main persons who sought to prevent parts of the nanking massacre , perpetrated by japanese in late 1930 ' s and which is denied to this day by the japanese . they claim that the whole series of horrible events is a propaganda fiction set forth by the chinese government . one odd element in the film is that the persons who set up the
security / safety zone
were shown wearing armbands with a simple cross or x on a white background , when the reality is that john rabe was a nazi and invoked the protection of hitler and the arm bands worn carried the swastika . censorship or revisionism does not hurt the story of these evil events at all . definitely a
must see
along with the film , city of life and death : the nanking massacre , released in 2009 . joseph mcgrory , philadelphia , usa
john rabe ends with its title character ' s exit from nanjing in early 1938 . the industrialist returned to germany , where he was arrested by the gestapo and forbidden to speak of the massacre . he died in 1950 , lost to history until his china diaries were rediscovered by the late iris chang , doing research in the mid - 1990s for her book the rape of nanking . ( gallenberger wrote the character of a young nanjing student photographer into his film as a tribute to chang ' s fervent desire to document the massacre . )
based on actual events , john rabe tells the story of a german businessman who rescued more than 200 , 000 chinese during the nanking massacre in china by courageously negotiating a safety zone to protect innocent civilians from the japanese army . drawing from john rabe s 1937 diaries as source material , academy award® winner florian gallenberger has crafted a portrait of a man revered as a saint in china to this day and yet never rewarded for his courage during his lifetime . ulrich tukur ( the white ribbon , the lives of others ) heads an all - star cast including daniel bruhl ( inglorious basterds ) , anne consigny ( the diving bell and the butterfuly ) and golden globe nominee® steve buscemi ( ghost world , the big lebowski ) .
after living in china for 30 years , rabe had a naive image of germany ' s national socialism as a humanistic workers ' movement , says mr gallenberger .
rabe , a german businessman and nazi , was part of a group of expatriates who set up a safety zone for chinese refugees in the japanese city of nanking during the slaughter of at least 150 , 000 chinese civilians and the rape of tens of thousands of women . filming of rabe ' s story is expected to begin in the next few weeks and will be directed by german florian gallenberger , a student of director wim wenders and the winner of the best live action short film oscar in 2001 . the film will be a chinese - german co - production between huayi brothers and hofmann and voges entertainment . there is no news at present as to who will play rabe in the screen adaptation of the german ' s extensive diaries , which will be filmed in shanghai and nanjing , the modern name for nanking . hundreds of thousands saved
now we have the first fiction film about this event by one of the leading chinese directors , who contrives to tell it through the experiences of a drunken american mortician named john miller ( christian bale ) . this man finds himself in nanking at the time , misses a chance to escape the city and ends up hiding out in a huge catholic cathedral , which is theoretically neutral ground .
uli edel ' s golden globe and oscar - nominated terrorist drama
the baader meinhof complex
picked up four lola noms , including best film and best actress for johanna wokalek .


brick lane is a 2006 british documentary directed and produced by minoo bhatia .

the documentary is about the personal stories and journeys of people who have made the street brick lane their home , how these different groups have shaped the town and the changing cultural markers that define the area .

it was broadcast by bbc two on 25 march 2006 .

brick lane ( 2006 film )

bbc two winter / spring 2006 - full pack ( 1 . 73 mb )
. international screening of video art , film and installation , project organiser and curator . the nunnery gallery , bow , london 2006
brick lane . . . community activists are protesting against plans to turn monica ali ' s novel into a film . photograph : david sillitoe
monica ali leaves brick lane for another country in her second novel , alentejo blue . natasha walter is underwhelmed
we’d love your help . let us know what’s wrong with this preview of brick lane by monica ali .
you can write fiction , but you cannot use names that are reality . the reality is brick lane .
some 120 members of the bangladeshi community from london and beyond marched in protest against the forthcoming film adaptation of monica ali ' s novel , brick lane .
a community action group in tower hamlets has launched a campaign to stop production of a film based on monica ali ' s booker - shortlisted novel , brick lane .
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the film has already gained several nominations in the british independent film awards but reviews have been mixed . brick lane is either an
intelligent and humane
take on ali ' s book , or
stultifying . . . dull . . . turgid
. if gavron thought the brick lane protesters were a difficult bunch , she hadn ' t encountered the british critics .
review of short film in the uk and the uk film council’s support for short film production , 2001 - 2009 945 . 09 kb
film : 21st century literacy : case study : bradford city of film 238 . 15 kb
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when you turn the corner into brick lane in london ' s shoreditch , the whiff of aromatic spices and strains of bengali pop music are unmistakeable .
the film adaptation of brick lane without any scenes actually filmed in brick lane is a bit like eating chocolate cake with chocolate - flavoured icing : it ' s close but not quite convincing enough . still , if ruby films are looking for another london location , we hear crouch end is free : no filming has taken place there . . . ever .
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the protesters had taken over brick lane by now , and were being followed by a small handful of police officers who strolled casually behind , at a distance .
some even threatened to block filming on brick lane and , amid veiled threats of violence , the police advised gavron and her team to stop working in the neighbourhood .
perhaps it was too much to expect a faithful reproduction of an area like crouch end on tv because , well . . . why would you want to see that ? however , a lush , full - sound , full - scale cinematic screen - capture of the sights and scenes of brick lane is a far more exciting prospect and no doubt those waiting for the film adaptation of monica ali ' s booker - shortlisted novel brick lane are expecting a few scenes to be filmed in , you know , brick lane . let ' s shoot those expectations down right now : the producers , ruby films , have announced that they will not be filming the remaining scenes in brick lane due to pressure from local businesses and residents who oppose the book and the film adaptation .
strangely enough my brother had written a book about brick lane called an acre of barren ground , a fictionalized story told from different perspectives . so i knew the area through that too , and i knew that various jewish people had their roots in brick lane . so there were emotional connections , although not direct by any means . ”
pamela and shafiq ' s story is featured in the documentary ' brick lane ' , broadcast at 9 . 10pm on bbc2 on saturday . pamela uddin was talking to julia stuart
as the movie prepared to shoot in 2006 , a small group of brick lane traders began to make vocal their protests . led by a handful of traditionalists , they objected principally to the alleged portrayal of bangladeshi muslims from the sylhet region as uneducated and impious - though they were also incensed by the depiction of adultery within the community - and labelled the film
a violation of their human rights
.
in 2006 , bill oddie , kate humble and simon king are back for three weeks of live wildlife reports from around the country and more news from the ongoing springwatch survey .
brick lane is a beautiful film that could have been even better . based on a well - regarded novel of the same name by monica ali , sarah gavron’s film is about a young bangladeshi woman named “nazneen , ” who’s sent to london as a teenager to marry a man she’s never met .
a small group of mostly middle - aged bangladeshis , all men save for two women , gathered in brick lane in the warm afternoon , holding a banner and hand - written posters .
it was quite noticeable that there were almost no women directly involved in the march . one of the two who did march was salina akhtar , 41 , who lives not far from brick lane .
so we decided to shoot some bits away from brick lane and then come back later with a smaller crew . it wasn ' t a big problem , but it wasn ' t helpful .
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here , the bullying chanu is both sympathetic and pitiable , and the potentially provocative sex scenes with karim are tenderly discreet . even the grim estates bordering brick lane are beautified by cherry blossom and rich bengali drapes .
she will undoubtedly make more . a graduate of the national film and television school ' s fiction director course , where she was taught by stephen frears , gavron first worked as a freelance documentary - maker before making an acclaimed film for bbc2 called this little life , about a couple with a very premature baby . it won her the best newcomer award from women in film and television , and , quickly , the offer of brick lane from tessa ross , who heads film four .
i ' ve seen her , i ' ve talked with her ,
he claimed .
she never told us she ' d write a book . now she can ' t even come to brick lane .
michael jackson succeeds michael grade as chief executive . film four becomes a stand - alone film company ( film four ltd . ) under paul webster , incorporating development , production marketing and distribution under one roof .
brick mansions
in an english - language remake of the french action thriller
district b13 ,
which came out in the united states in 2006 . the luc besson production wasn’t exactly a huge hit here—it only made about $ 1 . 2 million at the box office that summer—but it was a critical smash and became a cult favorite .
the campaign against monica ali ' s film brick lane is led by abdus salique , and in a fit of logic - twisting genius , he has threatened to burn ali ' s book at a rally organised for sunday . citing the potential book burning as an act of his freedom of expression just as ali ' s writing of brick lane was an act of freedom of her expression , the angry campaigner has promised to continue to oppose the film wherever the film crew go . it is also , according to this reasoning , freedom of expression when monchab ali , chairman of the greater sylhet council brings in up to 100 protesters from chester and possibly a few more from manchester , cardiff and birmingham .
yes , that was the connection when i went to brick lane . the life that i have lived is very different from the experience that nazneen was supposed to go through , but culturally there were many things when i went to meet women in and around brick lane who had similar stories . like nazneen , they got married at a very young agei in arranged - marriage situations : transported into an alien culture ; didn’t speak the language ; didn’t know anyone ; didn’t know how to communicate…
brick lane was daunting for me and frightening in lots of ways , because it was a first film , and it was a big novel that was well loved . when you make a decision as a director , you know that it’s a huge commitment . it’s three years of your life , and you have to stand by it , and it takes every iota of your being to make a film .
naila kabeer is an ids research fellow in the vulnerability and poverty research team . her book ‘power to choose : bangladeshi women and labour markets decisions in london and dhaka’ ( 2000 ) is available to buy from the ids bookshop ‘brick lane’ is currently in uk cinemas
film : 21st century literacy : case study : wise up 206 . 15 kb
review of a bigger future – the uk film skills strategy 285 . 42 kb
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the brick lane landmarks are shot beautifully - the whole film looks fab - but in fact it could be set anywhere , within any community . nazneen ' s arranged marriage could simply be a bad or unhappy marriage - and , in any case , newly emancipated by a sewing machine and an affair , she gets out of it with ease .
sarah gavron’s recently released film of monica ali’s novel brick lane will inevitably raise questions among those who have read the novel about the relationship between the two : is it true to the novel ? is it better ? or does it usurp the role of our imagination ? the best advice comes from one of the film’s reviewers : see the film as a film – it stands in its own right . however , i had a special interest in comparing the two because of my personal , but minor , role in the history behind it , a history located in different kinds of immigrant sensibilities .
scheduled to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the resignation ( march 2006 ) , this programme uses contributions from wilson ' s inner circle , interviews and dramatic reconstruction of revealing , unpublished interviews with wilson to untangle the mysteries surrounding his career as labour leader and prime minister .
film : 21st century literacy : case study : projector community languages 289 . 7 kb
analysis of the corporate finance of smes in the uk film industry 509 . 97 kb
uk film council annual report and accounts 2003 - 2004 part 1 225 . 63 kb
uk film council annual report and accounts 2003 - 2004 part 2 303 . 16 kb
uk film council annual report and accounts 2003 - 2004 part 3 350 . 48 kb
david rose collects the rossellini award for ‘services to cinema’ at the 1987 cannes film festival . the award signifies international recognition for the broadcaster’s continued commitment to feature film production .
film four continues to make experimental features with its low - budget arm the film four lab , and also funds larger budget features with american and european co - producers .
filmfour puts 40 projects into development this year , including brick lane ( sarah gavron ) and what was to become brothers of the head ( keith fulton and louis pepe ) , the latter ( a faux documentary about a punk band fronted by siamese twins ) . the latter is one of several uncategorisable projects that helps to dispel fears that filmfour’s retrenchment would mean parochial film solely aimed at british audiences and tastes . tessa ross invests in shane meadows’ dead man’s shoes ( 2004 ) and develops last king of scotland ( kevin macdonald , 2006 ) and lovely bones ( peter jackson , 2009 ) , both of which were inherited from paul webster’s regime .
i don ' t know why they do it but they do it a lot - on the title page it says brick lane : a novel and there i was expecting this oblong of printed material to be brick lane : a new kind of vacuum cleaner anyway . other reviews would have you believe that this book is terrifically boring , beaten only for tediousness by some variations in the major groups of plankton of the kamchatka peninsula littoral by r . k . litkynshovskaya and p . i . podgorna - bialaczczka . so why did i really enjoy this novel ? could
the film - makers have since abandoned their plans and will now shoot the footage elsewhere .
future learning and skills – giving everyone the opportunity to build a lifelong relationship with film .
film : 21st century literacy : case study : oakington manor primary school 211 . 3 kb
film : 21st century literacy : case study : the oaks secondary school 225 . 98 kb
portrayal v betrayal : an investigation of diverse and mainstream uk film audiences 3 . 92 mb
stately attraction : how film and television programmes promote tourism in the uk 816 . 11 kb
stephen frear’s my beautiful laundrette , originally envisioned as a film for television , enjoys a successful cinema release . the film was shot on 16mm film in just six weeks , and was to be shown on the film on four strand shortly after . however , when it premiered at the edinburgh film festival the reception was so favourable that the decision was made to give laundrette a theatrical run . the film was a resounding success , crossing over from television to cinema and securing a distribution deal in north america , where it grossed $ 751 , 465 .
both the creation of film four ltd . and the launch of the subscription channel , also dubbed film four for the sake of brand unity , are attempts to build outward on established strengths , and are symptomatic of renewed confidence in british film with the injection of lottery funding .
gavron herself , the 37 - year - old daughter of london ' s deputy mayor nicky gavron and the multi - millionaire publisher lord gavron , describes the process of making the movie as
certainly difficult
- and laughs wryly . in her first interview since brick lane ' s uk premiere at the london film festival last week , she admits to feeling
terrified
as the movie is finally unveiled .
coordinating the campaign from his sweetshop armed with three mobile phones and an address book , the chair of the brick lane traders ' association , abdus salique , warned of the damage film could do to community relations .
nobody can come with a camera make a film about that book here . she [ ali ] has imagined ideas about us in her head . she is not one of us , she has not lived with us , she knows nothing about us , but she has insulted us .
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but the film is really about the sister who came to london . the glimpses we catch of bangladesh are from the eternal landscape of her childhood that her homesickness , and longing for her sister , lead her to revisit repeatedly in her imagination . the main geography of sarah gavron’s film is the real brick lane and she gives us its sights and sounds from different angles : a claustrophobic flat opening out to a drab council estate and beyond it , the colour , noise and bustle of street life in london’s east end .
this year saw the release of shane meadows’ this is england , a semi - autobiographical film about skinheads and subcultures in thatcher’s britain during the 1980s . this film cemented both meadows’ and warp films’ reputation for uncompromising , gritty and exciting film - making , and also cemented film4’s relationship with both parties .
in the end , if the film of brick lane proves anything , it ' s the foolishness of judging a piece of art before it ' s even made . in retrospect , all the fuss seems rather childish and over - wrought . i ' ll bet no one - not even the most traditional bangladeshi patriarch - is going to be offended by this small - scale take on ali ' s altogether more daring novel .
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four weddings and a funera l ( mike newell ) becomes the highest grossing british film to date .
the film four pay - tv channel is launched , specializing in art - house and cult films .
monica ali is a british writer of bangladeshi origin . she is the author of brick lane , her debut novel , which was shortlisted for the man booker prize for fiction in 2003 . ali was voted granta ' s best of young british novelists on the basis of the unpublished manuscript . she lives in south london with her husband , simon torrance , a management consultant . they have two children , felix ( born 1999 ) and shumi ( born 2001 ) . she opposes the british government’s attempt to introduce the racial and religious hatred act 2006 . she discusses this in her contribution to free expression is no offence , a collection of essays published by penguin in 2005 .
the action may be serious , but
brick mansions
doesn’t take itself too seriously . it’s a ridiculous movie that has the decency to acknowledge that it’s ridiculous .
richard stanley’s supernatural fantasy horror dust devil is released in the uk and grosses just £30 , 000 . though unsuccessful , the film becomes a cult classic . from aukin’s perspective , the film serves as a conscious message to the industry about the wide range of scripts film on four is now willing to accept .
a captivating read from a debut novelist , brick lane brings the immigrant milieu of east london to vibrant life . with great poignancy , ali illuminates a foreign world ; her well - developed characters pull readers along on a deeply psychological , almost spiritual journey . through the eyes of two bangladeshi sisters—the plain nazneen and the prettier hasina—we see the divergen
she insists the film ' s concept stayed the same throughout the nastiness of 2006 and did not change as a result of protest .
i didn ' t deliberately set out not to make a controversial film . god , the terrible thing about making a film - well , terrible and wonderful - is that you have to really shed your skin to make it , you have to be this deeply sensitive soul who pours yourself into it , and then once it ' s out there , people are so ruthless , particularly in britain , and all of a sudden you need to be clad in armour plating . i ' m trying very hard to be robust about it , but it ' s my first film and the whole process is still very new .
the film should be made , it ' s not specifically against islam or the bangladeshi community itself .
but there is no doubt that my grandmother was one of the forces that drew me to brick lane : seeing the world as an outsider through her eyes and then watching my mother ( who’s the shahana in our family story ) . nazneen is my grandmother : from the generation displaced . my grandmother came to england at the same age as nazneen : 17 .
low and micro - budget film production in the uk : cultural value and potential strategic interventions 308 . 71 kb
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brick lane was the work of a writer who seemed to have found , right at the beginning of her career and with absolute confidence , her own voice . even if the voice was not always fully mature , that novel spoke to us in a tone that was humorous and humane , and managed to bring to life with marvellous precision a particular emotional journey in a particular milieu .
all this is making me want to do is read the book and watch the film ,
he said .
rarely does a british film arrive burdened by such a weight of political baggage . and rarely have so many people written , argued and blogged about it before sitting down to watch a single scene . but brick lane , the adaptation of monica ali ' s best - selling novel , directed by sarah gavron , was always going to be this year ' s most
controversial
movie , a work that has already inspired acres of fierce , angst - ridden debate , and a round of flying insults among literary giants .
if this film is being made here then it ' s taking us back another 10 years ,
he said .
but there is no predicting what a writer will do next , and as soon as you open ali ' s new novel , alentejo blue , you find her speaking with a completely different accent . brick lane introduced us to a young bengali woman ' s consciousness ; here the first point of view is that of an old portuguese peasant , talking in the way that old european peasants do in young english writers ' minds :
i am old and i am calm , he thought . . . it is the passing of desire .
the further you go in alentejo blue the further you seem to get from brick lane . while her first novel grew cumulatively , with characters who were gradually revealed through different situations , this novel is structurally piecemeal , a collection of vignettes with no forward narrative thrust at all .
what caused - and continues to cause - such a fuss was the reaction to both novel and film from a group of residents in brick lane . the novel tells the story of nazneen ahmed ( played by tannishtha chatterjee ) , sent to london from bangladesh to be married to the self - deluded and selfimportant chanu ( satish kaushik ) , and whose sexual awakening at the hands of young stud karim ( christopher simpson ) coincides with the radical change of atmosphere on the streets of shoreditch and bethnal green in the wake of 9 / 11 .
the film holds fast to nazneen’s point - of - view , rewarding the viewer with a deep and multifaceted depiction of the inner life of an immigrant woman . nazneen lives quietly day - by - day , never fully aware of the fact that her loyalties are gradually shifting in tiny increments from the past ( as embodied by her spouse ) to the future ( represented by her children ) . although the filmmakers always respect their source material and do their best to portray the real brick lane neighborhood , the core of this story is universal .
the bbc and the british film institute ( bfi ) are hitting the road together again . following the success of their collaboration on
channel 4 begins selling its own advertising . this year also sees the release of gurinder chadha’s bhaji on the beach , a film about the experience of asian women in the uk . it is the first feature film to be directed by a british asian woman .
monica ali is a british writer of bangladeshi origin . she is the author of brick lane , her debut novel , which was shortlisted for the man booker prize for fiction in 2003 . ali was voted granta ' s best of young british novelists on the basis of the unpublished manuscript . she lives in south london with her husband , simon torrance , a management consultant . they have two children , felix ( born 1999 ) and
shallow grave ( danny boyle ) is released to critical acclaim in the uk . crucially , the film also secures trust in film on four on part of channel 4 executives , who had doubts about its capacity to achieve success and ratings in the new commercial broadcasting environment .
monica ali’s novel brick lane runs 415 pages , a substantial percentage of which contains letters from hasina ( nazneen’s sister in bangladesh ) . since ali always punctuates nazneen’s story with updates from hasina , the reader understands that nazneen is actually “the lucky one” long before nazneen is able to appreciate this fact for herself . in deference to those who have yet to read ali’s wonderful novel , i won’t say any more here about the tragic dimensions of hasina’s life .
i met shafiq when i was 15 . i was at boarding school in brighton and was back home on holiday . we lived near brick lane in the east end . a friend and i went to the wimpy in aldgate . shafiq was the chef - he ' d emigrated from bangladesh a few years earlier . it was his looks that attracted me to him , in particular his hair . he had mobs and mobs of jet - black hair .
during the 1990s , led by david aukin , an increasing number of these productions enjoyed theatrical release , but it was the channel’s broadcast seasons of film on four which , arguably , established the distinctive identity of its contribution to british film culture for a generation of television viewers .
david rose , formerly head of english regions drama at bbc pebble mill , is hired as commissioning editor for fiction , including film on four .
film four ceases to exist as a stand - alone company with its own distribution arm , and is relaunched as ( reverts to ) an in - house production unit within its parent channel 4 . tessa ross becomes commissioning editor for film four . she has a budget of £10 million .
the first film on four , walter ( stephen frears , 1981 ) , is broadcast on the channel’s opening night of transmission ( 2nd november ) . opinions and reviews were polarized about the controversial film , featuring a remarkable performance from ian mckellen in the titular role , as a mentally disabled young man .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
nazneen is a bangladeshi village girl who has just come of age when her marriage is arranged to an older man living in the distant fantasy of london . brick lane chronicles the story of her marriage , her children , the public housing complex she lives in , and her struggle to make sense of her role in a world very different from the one she was raised in . among the more interesting parts of the book were the outlines of the cultural challenges of bangladeshis living in england . i learned a lot about
this book impressed me because of its immersiveness . not only in terms of time and place , although that was very well handled , but mostly in terms of character . there are few modern human experiences that could be farther from my own than those of a woman born and raised in bangladesh relocating to london after an arranged marriage to a man already living there . but i found the main character of brick lane , nazneen , to be very relatable , to the point where i ended up totally immersed in her stor
the reasons there are few women protesting about a book and a film which is centred around a woman ' s life , he said , is more mundane .
this year also saw the end of the eady levy , a tax on box office receipts which was set up in 1957 to support the british film industry .
the last temptation of christ attracted the largest number of complaints ever , and oscars were received for the ( film on four funded ) madness of king george .
this book left me with quite mixed feelings to be honest . i wanted to love it , it’s been compared to white teeth by zadie smith which is one of my all time faves , but i thought it lacked the vibrancy and liveliness of white teeth , despite both of them portraying the lives of immigrants in london . . brick lane follows nazneen , a bangladeshi woman who moves to london for an arranged marriage . i think the slowness of the book comes from the passivity of nazneen , as she doesn’t really do much for much
remarkably , dan also shows footage to people who actually appeared in the films as children and are seeing themselves on film for the first time , 80 years later .
brick lane is a real place , and it’s been the center of the british garment district ever since huguenot refugees brought their looms from france in the early 18th century , followed by waves of poor irishmen and ashkenazi jews . when chanu leaves his position on the district council , a friend helps nazneen connect to the neighborhood’s thriving underground economy , and her new job as a home - based pieceworker brings her into regular contact with “karim , ” ( christopher simpson ) the young man who brings her materials and takes her finished goods back to the factory .
what i liked most about this book was the view it offered into a whole other culture . i have been to brick lane and tower hamlets many times , and have actually spent some months in bangladesh , but i obviously don’t have any real understanding what it is to be part of the bangladeshi community , or indeed an immigrant to these shores . the main strength of this book for me , was bringing that world alive . spanning the eighties to the start of the 21st century ( building up , inevitably , to 9 / 11 ) this c
brick lane is an interesting book . the central character , nazneen is totally passive , almost too passive . it should be noted , however , that monica ali does a good job of setting up that passivity . from the very first page of the book , the reader is shown and told that nazneen is passive , that she was raised to leave things to fate . the problem with the passiveness of the central character is that it can make the book insufferable , you want her to do . it is here that i have to give ali points . th
i did enjoy this novel ; it goes at a good pace and there is a warmth about it that i appreciated . the structure of the novel is interesting . nazneen is born in a village in bangladesh ; when old enough she is married to chanu , a much older man who lives in england . she goes to england as a bride in her teens in 1985 . the story follows her over the next years ( until 2002 ) as she has children and mixes with the bangladeshi community around brick lane . the novel also cuts to her sister hasina back i
i ' ve never felt much compulsion to read brick lane but found it on a recent second - hand shop search and picked it up cheap . widely praised on publication i can understand why but it didn ' t do much for me . this may be as i read it while flying from costa rica to new zealand ( finishing it in lax ) so brain wasn ' t entirely working at full power . i found it difficult to keep my concentration on the story . immigration and alienation and a clash of cultures pervade as a young bride moves to england from
film crew in tow , dave and si are off on six quests that take in namibia , the isle of man and ireland , transylvania , turkey , vietnam and mexico .
but the attempts of ruby films , makers of the forthcoming movie adaptation , to film exterior scenes in the street itself have re - opened wounds that have never really healed .
bottom line : novel and film are completely complementary , and if i ruled the world , gavron would make a sequel in which hasina’s pov was punctuated by letters from nazneen .
from 1998 the channel’s film production , distribution and video interests were incorporated into filmfour , to be run separately from the main channel under the leadership of paul webster . webster’s remit was to run filmfour as a mini - studio , funding larger budget features through filmfour productions while continuing to fund low - budget , innovative film - making through filmfour lab .
. . . where bangla town meets bollywood . award winning short film from 2003 . dir . paul makkar feat . surinder duhra , foyzal islam , hassan rahman , fagun thakrar .
could it take me longer to read a book ? i made myself read this book everyday so i could be done with it and properly hate it . look at what the ny review of books said :
ali succeeds brilliantly in presenting the besieged humanity of people living hard , little - known lives on the margins of a rich , self - absorbed society .
who is this crazy nut ? you need to read a book like brick lane to understand
besieged humanity
or what it ' s like to live a
hard , little - known
life ? the protaganist moves around
there ' s a good reason that brick lane was short - listed for the man booker award , and was nominated for a whole slew of other prizes too . it is just brilliant . that doesn ' t mean that it is necessarily fun to read . ( a 16 year old bangladeshi girl is married off to a 40 year old guy in london , and goes there to start a new life in almost poverty . no , not exactly a
fun
topic… ) however , the descriptions are brilliant , and the story itself is mesmerizing . the subplots are rich and believable . you re
he threatened mass protests if the company attempts to film on the streets of tower hamlets , saying that
the community feels strongly about this . we are not going to let it happen .
it wasn ' t that we were deterred by that , or not brave . we always absolutely believed that we would carry on making this film and that nothing would stop us - but , you know , the film crew was unwieldy and we had children on - set , and we weren ' t going to expose a child , or anyone , to any kind of threat .
monica ali read my book and the stories of these women spoke to something in her experience . she too was an immigrant but one that had left bangladesh as a child and grown up in britain . her novel is about two particular women – sisters working in the garment industries in britain and bangladesh – not about women workers in general . it is the stories of these women , their personalities and relationships that give the novel its appeal rather than the novel’s geography . bangladesh appears largely through a series of letters written by the sister who stayed behind but the setting of the novel in brick lane is not particularly essential to its narrative .
$ 9 . 99 kindle my favorite quotes from
brick lane
by monica ali amma said to her daughters :
if god wanted us to ask questions , he would have made us men
( 53 ) .
razia waved the lollipop in front of raqib ' s [ the toddler ' s : ] face . he watched it devotedly . he became its disciple . for its sake , he would sacrifice everything
( 65 ) . hasina on corruption in bangladeshi education :
university is also close down . all students hold protest . they rallying for right to cheat . in my heart i support . some who af
although the idea of film funding wasn’t directly discussed in the annan report which led to the creation of channel 4 , it was a passion of the channel’s first chief executive , jeremy isaacs . in europe film and television had long enjoyed a symbiotic relationship – in germany and italy broadcasters co - funded films which were screened in cinemas and later on television – and isaacs was inspired by this example .
he was pulled to one side and given a bit of a talking - to by the policeman . dan later said he was annoyed the film - makers were
thwarted
by the bangladeshi community .
more importantly ,
district b13
is probably best remembered for introducing the dazzlingly acrobatic practice of parkour to a larger audience .
brick mansions
is nearly identical to the gritty , stylish original , down to character names and plot points , small details and big chase scenes . but it will be remembered as the last film paul walker completed before his death in a november 2013 car crash . ( walker already had begun shooting the seventh movie in the
fast and furious
franchise , which is now scheduled for release in 2015 . )
i am a promo producer / shooting ap with over 8 years of industry experience across a number of genres and sectors - from broadcast to film , to producing community filmmaking projects , corporate videos and charity promos .
in retrospect ,
brick mansions
is a great example of what walker did best all along . once again , he serves as the strong , stoic center in a sea of larger - than - life villains and weirdoes—a thankless job , and one that’s easy to underestimate . but clearly he recognized that was his strength : to use his california - surfer good looks , quiet calm and strong physicality to project the image of an appealing and reliable action hero .
brick mansions
affords him a bit more range than he’d enjoyed in his previous films—he gets to be funny , kinda , as one half of a mismatched buddy duo—but it’s also the most physically demanding movie of his career .
at the edinburgh film festival jeremy isaacs states his intention , if chosen as chief executive of the new fourth channel , to make , or help make , films for broadcast on television here , and in cinemas abroad .
this year also saw the release of paddy considine’s harrowing feature debut tyrannosaur . funded by film4 and warp x , it was an expansion of dog altogether , a short film for warp films that considine wrote and directed .
sarah gavron takes one of the other recognisable truths in monica ali’s novel and makes it the heart of her film . as a result , the film is far more about different kinds of love , those that sustain and those that can destroy . we hear the voice of the sister who stayed in bangladesh , defying fate in a desperate quest for love through a series of encounters with men . we sense it may be a hopeless search .
in the mid - twenties , film - maker claude friese - greene made a series of films during an intrepid drive from land ' s end to john o ' groats , in the early days of the motor car .
sixteen of the twenty - one new british films screened at the london film festival ( which ran from november 11 - 29 th ) were at least partially funded by tv money , and the majority of them by channel 4 .
in a uk first , ben wheatley’s psychedelic civil - war era chiller a field in england was released on uk tv , in cinemas , and on blu - ray , dvd and vod simultaneously on friday 5th july . the film was funded by film 4 . 0 , a digital low - budget arm of film4 , which this year also initiated a competition called scene stealers , asking aspiring filmmakers to reimagine scenes from past film4 classics . the prize , a £5 , 000 development grant and mentoring from film4 . 0 to develop an original short film project , was awarded to the brothers lynch ( keith and david lynch ) for their ‘steal’ of a scene from shane meadows’ this is england .
a spokesman for tower hamlets council said that they
take the concerns of local residents seriously when giving permission to use the borough [ for filming ] , and would be happy to listen to any concerns about this particular film .
transmitted 28th april . this was the directorial debut of neil jordan , who also wrote the script . the executive producer was john boorman , who had recommended the script to jeremy isaacs in 1981 when film on four was being established .
the original aim was to commission around fifteen to twenty films per year , films which would be co - financed and produced in partnership with other companies , and many of which would give opportunities to talented new writers and directors . david rose was the first senior commissioning editor responsible for guiding this innovation . between 1982 and 1998 channel 4 directly funded over 270 productions , which provided a major boost to the british film industry and created an unprecedented bridge between television and film .
produced by widei and agg team , the show brings the vibe of the most happening city london . be it film premieres , fashion events , current fads , asian viewpoints or the red carpet , aag tv takes you wherever it’s happening .
meanwhile , 2010 spelled good news for film4 . firstly , with the arrival of the new chief executive , david abraham , channel 4 increased film4’s annual budget by 20 % to £10m , returning the budget for film development and financing to the level it was before the economic downturn . secondly , channel 4’s commitment to funding uk film - making was included in the broadcaster’s new public service remit for the first time in the digital economy act , which passed into law in april .
but she rejected the allegation that the book or the film was in any way racist or derogatory to the local community .
the filmmakers read the book and thought it had a very interesting story to tell ,
she explained .
they certainly would not have embarked on a project which they thought was in any was racist .
she stressed that members of the local community were involved in the production of the film , and insisted that most local reaction had been positive .
but film - making doesn ' t box you in . there are precedents - shekhar kapoor making elizabeth , ang lee making sense and sensibility . film hasn ' t been dogged by the sort of problems that seem to affect literature - what hanif kureishi calls
literary apartheid
- where you ' re only allowed to write about what you know , or are . i think it ' s part of a director ' s job to go into different worlds and find human stories and connect with them .
in the beginning of the film , nazneen is the one who wants to go back home to bangladesh . she has all these images from her childhood , and she feels so claustrophobic . the only outlet she has is through her letters to her sister who lives in bangladesh , and she’s always trying to go back home . but through the film and through her story , we realize that she finds home . she says : ‘i didn’t know that i was searching for a place which i’ve already found . ’
katherine butler is appointed to head up channel 4’s development slate , reporting to tessa ross , who takes on the joint drama brief across film and television in the new year , after the key players of the channel 4 drama team decamp to the bbc .
east is east ( damien o’donnell ) released . originally commissioned by david aukin in 1997 , the film becomes a huge success in the uk , partly thanks to filmfour’s new , more aggressive marketing practices . it also breaks new ground in reflecting british multiculturalism on screen .
mr salique raised the spectre of a worsening in community relations if filming goes ahead on location .
we are living in a multicultural society ,
he said .
we are in a peaceful situation . this film will make a lot of problems for local people .
gavron was initially
filled with trepidation
when asked to take on the £3 million project . it is her first full - length feature film and she knew there were easier debuts .
i did think : ' oh - oh . do i dare ? do i dare ? '
but i had to go with my passions , and i knew this was a film i could make , if i was going to avoid controversy , i ' d have made a broad romantic comedy instead . but i ' m not someone who takes the easy path in life .
david rose leaves the channel , and david aukin takes over as commissioning editor for drama ( including film on four ) . after some hesitation due to rising production costs and a scarcity of good scripts , aukin decides to continue funding feature films for release in the cinema and broadcast on television .
michael grade calls for an end to the itv levy on channel 4 , whereby the channel paid itv a set percentage of profits in return for providing a theoretical safety net that , according to grade , the channel did not need . pledges to invest the money saved in uk film production .
this book impressed me because of its immersiveness . not only in terms of time and place , although that was very well handled , but mostly in terms of character . there are few modern human experiences that could be farther from my own than those of a woman born and raised in bangladesh relocating to london after an arranged marriage to a man already living there . but i found the main character of brick lane , nazneen , to be very relatable , to the point where i ended up totally immersed in her story and her perspective . that was a pretty heart - wrenching experience , honestly , because nazneen ' s story is one of disappointment and fear and powerlessness , right up until just before the very end . this is one of those books which is beautiful , but in which the beauty comes almost totally from sadness . it doesn ' t exactly have a happy ending in the fairytale sense , but i was pretty pleased with the way things were left by the final page .
this film has been a roller - coaster and i go along with it like i ' m on one , too . i ' m affected by every bit of [ the controversy ] because that ' s just who i am . i try to detach myself but it ' s very hard .
danny boyle’s slumdog millionaire , funded ( to the tune of £1 . 5m of its £10m budget ) by film4 , receives its european premiere on the closing ‘gala night’ of the london film festival . the following year it cleaned up at the academy awards , receiving 8 awards including best pictures and best director .
in this year warp films – the innovative low - budget production company based in sheffield and consistently supported by its collaborator film4 – produced chris morris’ debut feature four lions , a satirical comedy drama following a group of homegrown islamic terrorists from sheffield , england . the film was a critical and box office success .
the opposition to the film stems from the original opposition to the book when it was first published in 2003 : sylhetis , who form 95 % of britain ' s bangladeshi community , considered the book had stereotyped their community and had called them
dirty little monkeys .
while outrage initially grew among those who had read the book , the current high feeling that has driven away the film production company seems to be borne mainly of hearsay and rumour rather than close reading of the text in question . history seems determined to repeat itself , in a hopefully less extreme variation of book - burning and literary persecution this time around .