The nominal hero is, in the end, a hero—but it is difficult to be comfortable with his heroism. He begins as a paternalistic industrial colonialist. Having established a Siemens plant in Nanjing, he tells his replacement that “the Chinese are like children” who need to be told what to do but will obey. The Japanese military bombs Nanjing on the night of his leaving party, and he saves a number of Siemens’ Chinese employees and their families by having them shelter underneath a German flag. A Nazi flag. Seeing that symbol used for protection, seeing it as it would have been for the war refugees huddled beneath it as a sign for safety, is incredibly uncomfortable. It also becomes an emblem for the fact that John Rabe could not have been a hero if not for his wealth and the status conferred upon him by membership in a horrible party. He becomes the chair of the committee that runs the safe international zone in part because, as a loyal Nazi Party member, he is in a good position to negotiate with the Japanese. And just in case anyone can set aside how problematic that situation is, one of the other German characters is reveals that he is part Jewish right after Rabe has used a Nazi salute to get past patrolling Japanese soldiers.

In the end, however, the people of the zone are only saved when Rabe decides to stop holding himself above and separate from the Chinese people and joins those who have gathered, unarmed, to place their bodies between the Japanese soldiers and the safe zone gates. This is not a sudden decision: he has already begun the divestment process by anonymously turning his life savings over to the committee.

The film isn’t just about John Rabe, however, nor does it make the mistake of focusing only on the European characters. One of the more important supporting characters is Langshu, a young woman at the local girls’ college who acts with incredible bravery. She records the devastation around her on film and leaves the college at night to bring rice to her brother, even though the “safe zone” isn’t entirely safe. She dresses in Japanese army uniform in order to be able to bury her father even though, as her brother points out, she hated him; it is, she believes, her duty. And it is that act of bravery which, indirectly, leads her to find a new life, of which we get only a glimpse as John Rabe leaves Nanjing.

The true story on which the movie is based was only revealed a decade ago when his diaries, which he is seen writing in throughout the film, were discovered. This sort of story is important to tell because it shows that anyone—not just an “ordinary person” but even a Nazi businessman, even someone who’s a bit of an asshole—when made aware of an undeniable wrong (and Rabe tries to deny it at first) can use the resources they have to help at least some of the people that wrong affects. Anyone who thus chooses to act will be changed by it, even if that isn’t really the point.

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the woman alone in the rundown house
which wasn’t all that old

turned out to be the monster
as we knew she had to be
or die & so we left her

it wasn’t much of a horror film
the kid who said mom wasn’t mom
was really just imagining
she’d gone with his dad
who didn’t die in Afghanistan
but moved to Reno anyway

it wasn’t much of a horror film
vampires the scientist
trying to cure death produced
sparkled anorexic
before a joyful mob

it wasn’t much of a horror film
the priest believed in god enough
to shred the first zombie
with a crucifix to stop
further infection

it wasn’t much of a horror film
we skipped past spindly trees downtown
at night with all the streetlights on

it wasn’t much of a horror film
our Ouija board was pink
and only summoned “poo”
we didn’t split up
were only me

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Now, the vast majority of my students are female; to the best of my knowledge, this is fairly typical of English departments in China.  All of them intend to have careers and probably would have to even if they didn’t want to given the economics of this region.  I worry about the kind of life they’re being set up for with such beliefs.  Even in places where most young college women would at least theoretically recognize the basic unfairness, there’s a gender imbalance when it comes to housework.

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Of course, their increased sensitivity works both ways.  Lovers finally getting together are usually accompanied by loud happy sighs.

Some of this difference may stem simply from an absence of stigmatization of showing strong feelings because of a movie rather than from an actually heightened sensitivity.  Or perhaps the absence of that stigmatization in and of itself enables an increased sensitivity as they’re not forced to struggle not to feel (and since the act of expressing an emotion creates feedback to tell the mind that it feels said emotion).  On the other hand, all this could come down to comparatively limited media exposure which reduces the personal necessity of numbing oneself to its effects.

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