Your Company
 

John Rabe

✭ ✭ ✭   Read critic reviews

France, China, Germany · 2009
2h 14m
Director Florian Gallenberger
Starring Ulrich Tukur, Dagmar Manzel, Steve Buscemi, Daniel Brühl
Genre Drama, History, War

In 1937, Nanking is attacked by the Japanese. John Rabe, a German businessman and director the local Siemens subsidiary, opens the company gets to help panicked civilians. In total, Rabe helped save more than 200,000 Chinese citizens during the attacks.

Stream John Rabe

What are people saying?

What are critics saying?

50

Village Voice by

It's a remarkable story, and filmmaker Florian Gallenberger does his best to shade his portrait with complications and mitigations. But for a story not often told, John Rabe feels awfully familiar.

50

Variety by Derek Elley

Despite the emotive subject matter, picture is often too sluggish dramatically, and never knits together its stock Western characters into a satisfying whole.

70

The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt

The 134-minute film jams in much information, incidents and characters without losing any entertainment value. And, fortunately, its heroism isn't pumped up or glorified.

60

NPR by Mark Jenkins

Triumph seems the wrong note for a feature film about mass murder. Yet Gallenberger insists on an old-school historical melodrama, with the darkest of terrors leavened by humor, tenderness and even romance. It's only the terror that rings true.

58

The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias

In spite of a subtle performance by Ulrich Tukur in the eponymous role, Gallenberger’s film feels labored and emotionally disengaged, an autumn-hued history lesson that’s as studiously reserved as its steel-spined subject.

50

The New York Times by Stephen Holden

John Rabe, has its visceral moments. But it is also burdened by manipulative clichés of a screenplay in which exposition outweighs character development. Inspired by Rabe’s diaries, from which short excerpts are read, it tells the story almost exclusively from a Western point of view.

60

Boxoffice Magazine by Steve Ramos

Boasting impressive production values, engaging storytelling and a standout lead performance by German star Ulrich Tukur, John Rabe will receive enthusiastic word of mouth from select arthouse audiences.

Users who liked this film also liked