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Krasnaya_Polyana
Reviews
Riben guizi (2001)
not very credible, but interesting
The atrocities described are horrific, but they are told by only 14 soldiers who spent 11 years in Soviet and Chinese prison camps before "confessing" to their war crimes. I know that people behave atrociously during war, but I was skeptical of these particular accounts from the beginning of the film.
There are only 14 men, who can't possibly be representative of the entire Japanese army. And even though they seem to believe their own stories, the stories are too well rehearsed.
These 14 men all confessed after spending 11 years in prison camps. Go to The Innocence Project and read about false confessions. They happen more often and more easily than we'd like to think. Also, there are no accounts of soldiers who DID NOT spend any time in Chinese prison camps. These soldiers were singing Internationale when they got off the boat from prison camp.
The footage and description of the Chinese prison camp SCREAMED propaganda. The civil-warring Chinese were brutal even with each other, so it's totally incredible that they would have been saints to the Japanese prisoners.
It's unfortunate because I know that war is evil and that soldiers do commit atrocities. I think the world needs to see and acknowledge the evil. I desperately want that message to get out. But truth should always be paramount to propaganda, especially in a "documentary."