City of Life and Death

Kadokawa and his group initially ambushed the Japanese troops from buildings in the city, successfully catching them off guard. However, when additional Japanese forces arrived and surrounded them, continuing to fight would have meant certain death for everyone. Surrendering was not a strategic choice but rather the only option left when they were outnumbered and trapped, leading to their eventual execution.

Earlier scenes establish the overwhelming strength of Japanese forces surrounding Nanjing, making resistance increasingly futile.

Kadokawa struggled with intense guilt because he was both a participant in the Japanese military and a witness to its atrocities. He developed feelings for Yuriko, a Japanese prostitute, which conflicted with his role as a soldier. Most devastatingly, he was powerless to stop the horrors inflicted upon women like Xiaojiang in the Safety Zone, and he witnessed Tang's sister-in-law succumb to madness after being victimized. His inability to act or prevent these tragedies haunted him.

His early interactions with Yuriko show his capacity for compassion, which makes his later helplessness more tragic.

When John Rabe was summoned back to Germany, the Safety Zone lost its primary protector. Japanese forces were actively hunting former Chinese soldiers. Tang chose to stay behind and swap places with a Chinese soldier who had been hiding in the Zone, allowing the soldier to escape while taking upon himself the soldier's fate. This act was meant to protect his family by ensuring the soldier could return to them safely.

Tang's earlier helplessness when his daughter and sister-in-law were victimized sets up his desperate choice to save someone else.

By the film's climax, Kadokawa was consumed by guilt and hopelessness after witnessing countless atrocities and being unable to prevent them. When he encountered Shunzi and Xiaodouzi facing execution, he made a final moral choice to free them as an act of mercy. However, this act of compassion left him feeling utterly empty, leading him to take his own life in despair.

His earlier inability to save Xiaojiang and other women plants the seeds of his eventual breakdown.

Xiaodouzi was a young boy who, along with Shunzi, narrowly escaped execution and found refuge in the Nanking Safety Zone. Throughout the film, he survives the horrors of the siege by staying hidden within the Zone's walls. At the end, he is among those freed by Kadokawa, though his ultimate fate remains uncertain.

Xiaodouzi's presence with Shunzi in the Safety Zone establishes his survival as tied to Shunzi's.

Jiang Shuyun, a teacher working in the Safety Zone, orchestrated a daring rescue when Shunzi was recognized and captured by Japanese forces hunting former soldiers. She posed as Shunzi's wife, with Xiaodouzi playing their son, convincing the guards of their family relationship. This act of defiance led to her being brutally assaulted, after which she desperately begged Kadokawa to end her suffering before she faced even worse fates.

Jiang's role as a teacher and protector of civilians in the Zone establishes her willingness to sacrifice herself for others.

Japanese officer Second Lieutenant Ida Osamu issued a command demanding one hundred women be handed over from the Nanking Safety Zone to serve as 'comfort women' for the troops. This was a systematic practice of sexual slavery used by the Japanese military. The demand was announced with tearful resignation by John Rabe and Jiang Shuyun to the gathered refugees, representing one of the most horrific atrocities committed during the siege.

Earlier violations of the Safety Zone by Japanese soldiers establish their persistent targeting of women.

Kadokawa was present when Japanese soldiers brutalized Xiaojiang and other women in the Safety Zone, but he was completely powerless to intervene. As a single Japanese soldier among many committing atrocities, he had no authority to stop them and feared for his own life if he resisted. His witness of this horror, combined with his inability to prevent it, intensified his guilt and psychological deterioration.

His earlier expressions of compassion for Yuriko highlight the contrast between his feelings and his inability to act.

Shunzi and Xiaodouzi escaped the systematic execution of Chinese prisoners when they were captured alongside Lu Jianxiong's group. They managed to flee during the chaos surrounding the Japanese attack on Nanjing, finding their way to the Nanking Safety Zone established by John Rabe and other Westerners. Their survival was a matter of being in the right place at the right moment during the breakdown of order.

The timeline shows Shunzi's capture and subsequent escape before the Safety Zone is fully established.

Japanese soldiers repeatedly invaded the Nanking Safety Zone with the intent to assault women. In desperate response, female refugees cut their hair and disguised themselves as men to avoid detection and sexual violence. This extreme measure highlights the terrifying reality that even the Safety Zone could not guarantee their safety from the Japanese military.

The establishment of the Safety Zone as a supposed sanctuary contrasts with the repeated violations that follow.

John Rabe, the German businessman and Nazi Party member who led the Nanking Safety Zone, was summoned back to Germany due to the diplomatic strain his humanitarian efforts were causing with Japan. His vocal advocacy for refugees and documentation of Japanese atrocities had created political tensions. His departure left a critical leadership vacuum in the Safety Zone, accelerating the deterioration of protection for civilians.

Rabe's early role as the primary protector establishes his importance to the Zone's functioning.

According to the film's ending, Ida Osamu survived the war and lived to an old age. This contrasts with many Chinese civilians and soldiers who perished during the massacre. The film presents this survival as an unsettling reminder that some perpetrators of the atrocities escaped justice, leaving a sense of unresolved injustice.

The film's bleak tone, noted in the meta notes, aligns with this unresolved ending.