John Rabe (film)

John Rabe
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Florian Gallenberger
Written by	Florian Gallenberger
Produced by	Benjamin Herrmann Mischa Hofmann Jan Mojto
Starring	Ulrich Tukur Daniel Brühl Steve Buscemi Anne Consigny Jingchu Zhang
Cinematography	Jürgen Jürges
Edited by	Hansjörg Weißbrich
Music by	Annette Focks
Production companies	Majestic Filmproduktion Canal+ Huayi Brothers France 2 Cinéma Antena 3 Films RAI Cinema ORF
Distributed by	20th Century Fox (Germany)[1] Aramis Films (France) Huayi Brothers (China)
Release dates	2 April 2009 (2009-04-02) (Germany) 29 April 2009 (2009-04-29) (China) 27 April 2011 (2011-04-27) (France)
Running time	134 minutes
Countries	Germany China France
Languages	Mandarin Chinese Cantonese German English Japanese Ukrainian
Budget	USD$20 million
Box office	$1.5 million

John Rabe (released in the United Kingdom as City of War: The Story of John Rabe) is a 2009 biographical film directed by Florian Gallenberger, based upon John Rabe's published wartime diaries.

An international co-production between Germany, China and France, the film focuses upon the experiences of Rabe (Ulrich Tukur), a German businessman who used his Nazi Party membership to create a protective International Safety Zone in Nanjing, China, helping to save over 200,000 Chinese from the Nanjing Massacre in late 1937 and early 1938. The massacre and its associated atrocities were committed subsequent to the Battle of Nanjing by the invading Imperial Japanese Army after they defeated the Chinese Nationalist forces defending the city during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Filming commenced in 2007,^[2] and it premiered at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival on 7 February 2009. Upon release, it did not receive theatrical distribution in Japan and was the subject of vociferous refutations by Japanese ultranationalists who denied the events ever took place.^[3] The film was released elsewhere to mixed critical reception.