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Chinese massacre film stirs debate

Although it took place more than 70 years ago, it is still remembered with anger in China, and continues to taint the country's relationship with Japan.

Chinese director Lu Chuan hopes his new film about the incident, called City of Life and Death, will help heal some of those wounds.

But the making of the film, and the subsequent public reaction, has revealed just how difficult it will be for the movie to achieve that goal.

While it was being filmed, there were disagreements between the Chinese and Japanese actors - and a fight.

And since its release the director has received a death threat and a storm of unfavourable comments from angry Chinese film-goers.

Wartime aggression

The movie, filmed completely in black and white, is already being seen as a box-office success, despite not opening until the end of last month.

It took 120 million yuan ($17.6m, £11.7m) in its first 10 days and has been showing in more than 500 cinemas across the country.

It is a bleak film, with scenes of rape, murder and cruelty.

In an interview with the BBC, the director said he had wanted to make a movie that represented the truth of what went on in Nanjing.

"The relationship between China and Japan is very unstable. There is too much misunderstanding between each other," he said...
Read entire article at BBC