Dead to Rights

The film unfolds against the brutal backdrop of the Japanese occupation of Nanjing during the Second Sino-Japanese War, where violence, fear, and survival collide in a city under siege. In the center of this turmoil is a web of intimate choices and dangerous alliances. A Chinese quisling translator, Wang Guanghai, becomes a pivotal figure by enabling the occupying power to tighten its grip on the city. His personal life is strained by an affair with Lin Yuxiu, an opera performer who navigates the occupation by performing for the soldiers and by clinging to fragile slips of dignity. Wang’s cunning plan is simple but morally complex: secure extra passports for Lin so she can escape with him, even as the marriage he maintains to appear loyal to his country is stretched to the breaking point.

Chuan-jun Wang plays the opportunistic translator Wang Guanghai, who wields his position to influence who can leave and who must stay. Meanwhile, the Japanese assign a calculated photographer, Ito Hideo, to chronicle the massacre as propaganda. Ito’s initial orders push him toward brutal displays of loyalty—he even orders the execution of a civilian to prove his devotion. His path crosses with Ah Chang, a postman who carries photographs and quickly becomes entangled in a game of photographic deception. Ah Chang’s resourcefulness keeps him one step ahead as he partners with others to preserve damning evidence of the brutality while trying to survive.

Daichi Harashima as Ito Hideo, a man whose professional veneer begins to crack as he discovers a hidden world beneath the official images. He is drawn to the studio where Jin Chengzong and his family shelter from the horror, and where Lin’s loyalties—both to survival and to her fellow Chinese—are tested. Xiao Wang as Jin Chengzong helps anchor the group, using a quiet courage to shield his wife, his child, and the others who seek safety in a small, hidden space. You Zhou as Song Cunyi enters the story through a crucial act of courage: a man smuggled into the studio who becomes a lifeline for the group, risking his own safety to keep others alive.

As the hidden inhabitants work to survive, Lin Yuxiu becomes a central figure whose courage under pressure reveals the human cost of the occupation. Ye Gao brings Lin’s resolve to life, including the moment she is forced to perform in harrowing conditions and the later decision to protect a hidden soldier, Song Cunyi. The group’s improvised darkroom becomes a battlefield of ethics as Ah Chang, Jin, Lin, Song, and the others steadily develop and duplicate photographs that reveal the true extent of the massacre. The early negatives present a fabricated harmony, but deeper processing uncovers scenes of executions, burnings, mutilations, and assaults. The group quietly duplicates and hides these misrepresented images to preserve evidence of the crimes.

The tension within the studio mounts as Ito’s loyalty to the regime hardens and he moves toward increasing brutality. The pursuit of safety and the fear of discovery drive each character toward drastic choices. Wang, ever watchful for opportunity, makes threats to maintain control, while the others cling to a fragile plan that might secure their lives but not their souls. As the occupation persists and Japanese forces face setbacks, the pressure to reveal or destroy hiding spots intensifies. Ito secures another photographer to press the operation, and when Song acts to protect the group, he pays a steep price.

A pivotal moment comes when Itō devises a way to develop the photos himself and orders the group to dispose of Ah Chang. The decision leads to a tragic confrontation in which Itō’s violence is finally challenged. The group decides to cast lots for who will take the remade passports—meant to facilitate escape—only to discover that Itō has sabotaged the plan: the passports are marked to be a death sentence for anyone who uses them. Jin’s wife and daughter ultimately win the opportunity to go with the passports, but the moment of escape is crushed when the guards, tipped off by Itō, shoot and rape Lin and her companions. The studio erupts into a deadly confrontation in which Wang is killed, Itō’s plan unravels, and Jin wounds the superior with acid as chaos erupts around them.

In the ensuing struggle, Ah Chang defends Lin and the others as Itō reappears with renewed violence. The group escapes the studio, aided by Jin’s decisive sacrifice: he allows Lin, their infant son, and the others to reach the Nanjing Safety Zone. They escape into the night with Itō’s plan seemingly shattered, only to discover that their earlier deception has a broader impact: they have sewn duplicates of the atrocity negatives into their clothes, and their films now reveal the truth to the world. The real negatives are disseminated to international journalists, triggering global condemnation and forcing the regime’s hand to confront the moral weight of its crimes. Itō, unable to erase his own complicity, commits harakiri, and a superior later ends his death to mask the truth as a “heroic” act.

In the wake of the war, the Nanjing Massacre’s architects face tribunals and punishment, but the truth has already begun to outpace them. Lin, now a mother, documents the executions of the regime’s leaders in the stark, unflinching style of the atrocities she once endured. The spirits of Ah Chang, Wang, Song, Jin, and countless others linger as the film closes, a quiet reminder that history itself bears witness to the past. The end credits showcase footage of real sites in modern-day Nanjing, with a hand holding up photographs taken at the same locations during the massacre, tying memory to place and time.

This sprawling, intimate drama uses its tightly wound interior to reveal a larger picture of war’s cruelty, resilience, and the stubborn human will to bear witness. It examines how individuals navigate moral lines under occupation, how art and photography can both document and distort the truth, and how a city scarred by violence seeks light through memory and justice.

Last Updated: October 01, 2025 at 13:07