Today, the world remembers Iris Chang as a champion for justice,
because Iris Chang refused to let the world forget injustice. But
while most people know about Japan's brutal 1937 invasion of
Nanking (Nanjing) through her work, few know much about the young
Chinese American author who struggled to ensure its 300,000 victims
didn't fade into obscurity.
That's why the creators of the docudrama Iris Chang:
The Rape
of Nanking chose to recount the Nanjing Massacre from the
perspective of the impassioned writer, historian and activist.
The film's creators believe that approaching the story through
her narrative - rather than a conventional documentary approach -
appeals to broader audiences because of the eminence of Chang's
1997 bestseller, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust
of WWII.
Chang committed suicide in 2004. She had been suffering clinical
depression and her husband Brett Douglas said she pushed herself
too hard. "The accumulation of hearing those stories, year after
year after year, may have led to her depression. But that's just
speculation. I think she also pushed herself too hard," Douglas
told San Francisco Chronicle after her death in November,
2004.
She left her unfinished aspirations to complete an oral history
project documenting victims' firsthand accounts and to shoot a
documentary about the atrocities.
"Her legacy is this invaluable contribution to our collective
knowledge, and so we chose to tell her personal story as well as
the story of Nanking," says executive producer and co-director Anne
Pick.
"Our film will follow Iris' journey as she researched and wrote
her groundbreaking book, and through her experience, the horror
that was the rape of Nanking."
According to co-director Bill Spahic, this storytelling approach
would not only make the documentary unique among the films about
the Massacre coming out as its 70th anniversary draws near, but
also would further personalize the tragedy.
"These events will not be third-person, cool narrative over
archival footage, but will have first-person real impact on Iris
Chang and, through her, the audience," he says.
The world premiere of the US$1.5 million film, a joint project
of Toronto-based Real to Reel Productions and the Canada
Association for the Learning and Preserving of the History of WWII
in Asia (ALPHA), begins today in Toronto, Canada. The docudrama
would then be broadcast on national TV in North America and Asia.
It is scheduled to premiere in China at the reopening of the
Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre on December
13, the 70th anniversary of the invasion.
"People never learn about this history in North America,"
vice-chairperson of Canada ALPHA Liu Meiling says. "Making this
film is another educational tool."
The film melds historical footage, excerpts from Chang's TV
appearances and speeches, dramatic reenactments and interviews with
Japanese soldiers and nine victims, including Xia Shuqin, the last
remaining survivor Chang interviewed.
"It was very emotional, because Xia knew Iris and knew her so
well," says Liu, who translated during the interview. "She became
very emotional when talking about Iris' death. When she'd talk
about her, she'd start crying. She kept saying: 'She was such a
sweet person; she was such a good person'."
Liu says she often struggled to maintain composure in her role
as a translator during the interviews. There were several times
during the filming when crewmembers embraced one another and wept
together, Liu says.
"Back at the hotel, I had trouble shaking off the emotion," she
says. "But I'd tell myself that what we were doing was bringing a
ray of hope to the world."
It was particularly sorrowful for Chang's parents - whose own
parents narrowly escaped the Massacre - who gave direct input in
the filmmaking and flew to Nanjing to give their testimonies on
film.
"It's very painful for my husband and me to go through this
again, to go through the interviews," Iris' mother Yingying Chang
told China Daily. "The pain will never go away. People say
time heals all wounds, but I don't think so."
Since Iris' passing, her parents have "taken up her torch". They
say it's their way of dealing with their daughter's untimely
death.
"This is the sacrifice on our part, and I think it's worth it,"
Yingying Chang says. "I take it as a business. I think Iris would
be happy to see we still continue to carry on her work."
Iris Chang's parents set up
the Iris Memorial Fund
When the former professors came out of retirement to become a
husband-and-wife team of activists, they established the Iris Chang
Memorial Fund, which stages activities aimed at education and an
annual essay contest.
While one of the main goals of their efforts, and of the film,
is to persuade the Japanese government to redress the victims of
the Massacre, Yingying Chang points out: "It's not anti-Japanese.
It's to let people know this happened."
(China Daily November 12, 2007)
