This heart-wrenching documentary examines the "Rape of Nanking" (1937-38) by the Japanese military, which saw some 200,000 Chinese citizens being massacred and thousands of women and girls being raped. To this day, the Japanese denies carrying out these atrocities, saying that such brutal behaviour is contrary to Japanese culture. But the evidence presented in this documentary is more than damning.

Directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, the documentary details the powerful story of a group of young Westerners who protected the Chinese during the Japanese invasion and managed to save tens of thousands of lives — sort of like Oscar Schindler in Schindler's List.

The documentary employs well-known actors such as Rosalind Chao, Mariel Hemingway and Woody Harrelson to read letters and diary entries of victims and survivors so as to make the events more vivid. Coupled with first-person accounts from a handful of survivors as well as perpetrators, Nanking succeeds in bringing history to horrific and unforgettable life.

Don't miss this fine documentary, whose urgent anti-war message comes at a time when much of the world has grown disillusioned with America's unjustifiable invasion of Iraq.