DVD: City of War, For retail & rental (Metrodome)

Japan's attack on Nanking in 1937 has been commemorated by two recent films, City of Life and Death and this imitatively named German production.

City of War is the less powerful of the two, but it's handsome and intelligent, if slightly too traditional. It concentrates on a group of European ex pats who establish a safe-zone for civilians. They're led by John Rabe (Ulrich Tukur), a faithful member of the Nazi party who fully expects Hitler to intervene on behalf of the Chinese.