'Good Nazi' Film Awakens Ugly Ghosts

A new film about a hero Nazi party member is threatening to stir old tensions between China and Japan, BBC reports. John Rabe relates the true story of a German businessman who saved thousands of Chinese from a Japanese massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. China is still simmering over the atrocities, which some Japanese deny even occurred.

The film’s German director said he wanted to help Japan realize its responsibility in the war, “rather than trying to avoid it or make it disappear.” Producers hope the involvement of a popular Japanese star will get the film distribution in Japan. “Japanese people will find the 2 hours very hard” to watch, said the actor. (More film stories.)