The work focuses on photographic evidence of the massacre that occurred in 1937 in that city in eastern China at the hands of the Japanese imperial army.
The story follows Ah Chang, a postal worker who poses as a laboratory technician to survive. Under pressure, he develops photographs for the Japanese military while turning the studio into a refuge, helping civilians and soldiers escape and simultaneously exposing visual evidence of the atrocity to the world.
The production generated significant buzz on Chinese social networks, with images circulating of viewers saluting in cinemas during the final credits and chanting slogans in tribute to the victims of the depicted events.
Dead To Rights is being shown at a time when preparations are underway for the military parade scheduled for September 3 in Beijing, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Japanese surrender.
On December 13, 1937, Japanese troops invaded Nanjing and over the following six weeks, they looted and burned the city, raped tens of thousands of women, and killed between 150,000 and 340,000 people, according to various historical sources.
Every year, China commemorates this date with a ceremony at the Memorial to the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, erected at the site.
During World War II, Japan invaded large parts of Chinese territory, committing widespread war crimes, including systematic massacres of civilians, biological weapon experiments, and the use of Chinese women as sex slaves by Japanese soldiers.
The Chinese government has frequently criticized Japanese authorities for taking a stance that it deems revisionist regarding the invasion and the committed crimes.
