Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com Sep 17, 2020 3.5/4.0

One of 2007's most important documentaries.

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Mark Holcomb Time Out Nov 18, 2011 3/5

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Ben Kenigsberg Time Out Nov 17, 2011 3/5

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Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly Sep 7, 2011 B-

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Kelly Vance East Bay Express Apr 28, 2011

This painful documentary ends on a hopeful note, although with a clear view of the cloud over human nature.

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Ian Buckwalter DCist Jun 12, 2010 5/10

A noble effort, but a flawed delivery. The film would benefit from more time spent with the real survivors, and less with actors tasked with "playing" the Western saviors.

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James Verniere Boston Herald Oct 18, 2008 B+

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Jonathan F. Richards Film.com Apr 13, 2008

The lesson here is not simply to vilify the Japanese soldiers of that era, but to make sure that we never forget who we are and what our country stands for today.

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Robert W. Butler Kansas City Star Mar 14, 2008 3.5/4

A deft and dramatic melding of talking-head documentary, historic photos and film footage and readings by a cast of actors, the film is a devastating depiction of man's inhumanity to man. It is also about how some of us are brave enough to say 'No.'

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Tricia Olszewski Let's Not Listen Feb 28, 2008

Nanking bombards you with words and images of acts too barbaric to fully absorb.

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Beth Accomando KPBS.org Feb 3, 2008

Nanking is a sometimes clumsy and sometimes artistically flawed documentary but in the end it presents a powerful account of what happened in Nanking at the end of 1937 and beginning of 1938.

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Sid Smith Chicago Tribune Feb 1, 2008 3/4

Sheds light on particular wartime atrocities largely neglected in the collective memory.

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Chris Hewitt St. Paul Pioneer Press Feb 1, 2008 3/4

A brutal introduction to events that should be better known.

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Tom Keogh Seattle Times Feb 1, 2008 3/4

Nanking doesn't tell us why decency and compassion completely break down from time to time. It just tells us something terribly modern and all too familiar.

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Sean Axmaker Seattle Post-Intelligencer Jan 31, 2008 B-

A handsome documentary on a brutal subject, Nanking delves into the 1937 Japanese invasion of China and the atrocities committed in the attack...

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David N. Butterworth rec.arts.movies.reviews Jan 24, 2008 3/4

A harrowing look at how war takes its terrible toll on the innocent.

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Bruce Newman San Jose Mercury News Jan 17, 2008 4/4

Anyone who sees Nanking should know going in what a brutal story it is, but no one should miss it because of a restrictive rating.

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Cynthia Fuchs PopMatters Jan 17, 2008

Even as history changes to accommodate current needs and frameworks, it's crucial to remember those who lived it.

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Robert Roten Laramie Movie Scope Jan 11, 2008 B

Highlights both the best and the worst that humanity has to offer.

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Peter Rainer Christian Science Monitor Jan 11, 2008 B+

Nanking does justice to this tragedy even though it makes the mistake of mixing the testimony of actual participants with staged readings from actors subbing for real people.

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