Miami International Film Festival 2010

Set during the 1937 occupation of Nanking by Japanese forces, this deeply emotional war epic moves beyond the battle zone to journey alongside the city’s inhabitants and reveals the largely untold saga of the defiant Chinese resisters who refused to bow down to their oppressors, despite the impossible odds facing them. From inside this walled, occupied settlement comes a vibrant portrait of the tenacity, courage, sacrifice, dignity, communion and love that mark human lives even when they are pushed to the brink by war’s terrors. This powerful film has achieved great success because its story strikes a timeless and universal chord. Acclaimed Chinese writer-director Lu Chuan's (The Missing Gun, Mountain Patrol) newest feature has at its heart an understanding of historical events and characters that describes what happens between individuals when the lunacy of battle uproots their lives and exposes their most basic humanity, their strengths and weaknesses, and their capacity for resilience.