It was never Georgetown alumnus Ted Leonsis’ (COL ’77) intent to make films. But after learning about the events in Nanking, China, he was inspired to tell the story of the horrific massacre perpetrated by the Japanese army against Chinese civilians during World War II. After conquering the Internet as the vice chairman emeritus of AOL, Leonsis has taken his first steps into the film industry with his new documentary, Nanking.
The film combines historical footage, photos, interviews with survivors and dramatic readings to tell the story of one of history’s most overlooked events.
“I was on vacation in St. Mark and I ran out of things to read. ... I came upon an obituary that said ‘noted author and historian dies’ and it had a picture of this beautiful young Chinese woman (Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking), and about the second paragraph in said she had taken her own life,” he said. “As I would walk through during the day this picture was looking at me.”
A Google search of the author led Leonsis to a description of the book that described it as a telling of ‘the forgotten holocaust’ “That was the first thing that hit me,” he said, “those are words that should not be strung together.”
After researching what had taken place during the Japanese occupation of China’s then-capital more thoroughly, Leonsis enlisted the help of his former Georgetown roommate and executive producer Jake Jacobs (COL ’77) to help create the film. Together they decided to focus on 12 Westerners -- from both sides of the war -- who had remained in Nanking after being warned by their governments to leave. They had worked to create a “safety zone” for Chinese refugees in the city.
One of the most interesting aspects of the film, and of the incident itself, is that the man who took charge of creating a “safety zone,” John Rabe, was a Nazi businessman living in Nanking. He became, in a sense, the leading organizer in the zone, and hearing letters he wrote to his family in Germany is incredibly moving. Bob Wilson, an American surgeon, and Minnie Vautrin, an American working at a women’s college in Nanking, also took charge of helping organize the zone, looking after the refugees and documenting the massacre for proof to show their governments. It is estimated, according to the film, that the Westerners in the city are responsible for saving the lives of nearly 200,000 people.
To tell its story, the film combines a dramatic reading of letters written by the Westerners in the city recounting the horrors committed by the Japanese army, interviews with survivors of the massacre, and historical footage. Leonsis said it was important that everything in the film be entirely authentic, and since there was no footage of the Westerners, he got actors to read their parts -- not narrate, but rather, become them. “It’s all eyewitness accounts,” he said. “We thought it was important not to make the film go Hollywood or write a screenplay ourselves … because we wanted it to be unassailable.”
The film is incredibly jarring, especially because this event is hardly given the time of day in history books, Leonsis pointed out, even though the atrocities committed are unforgettable.
However, in modern Japan, many people still minimize or entirely deny that any such event ever took place. In fact, right before Leonsis began to film, a textbook was released in Japan referring to Nanking as an “incident,” which incited massive riots in China and further convinced Leonsis of the importance of the film.
This film, what Leonsis describes as “filmanthropy,” is not only poignant and effective, but also an incredible documentation of an extremely dark moment in history. As Leonsis describes it, “this is an anti-war film. Any country can take a lesson: nothing good happens when an army attacks and occupies a foreign land.”