John Rabe Reviews
March 21, 2018
An impressive film, with a careful and emotive story... [Full review in Spanish]
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
August 12, 2011
It's worth seeing this feature about the heroic figure of John Rabe, even though the movie leaves much to be desired dramatically.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
July 5, 2011
A serious, large-budget treatment of Rabe's exploits and a moving, terrific film about trying to maintain one's decency amidst horrors.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
September 22, 2010
John Rabe preserves history while painting a portrait of a most complicated hero.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
September 17, 2010
It is a tale of a true hero, even if in its minor details it's less than entirely true. For a movie with ambitions as big as "John Rabe," that doesn't just make it good. That makes it epic.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
June 29, 2010
Despite a reliance on docu-drama contrivances, a reasonably intelligent, impressively mounted account of a little-known act of twentieth-century heroism.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
June 18, 2010
Thanks to Tukur, what we get here is still something: a stunning portrait of a good man caught in a widening inferno.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
June 4, 2010
Drawn from Rabe's diaries, the film is rich in telling and ironic details.
Original Score: 4/5
May 27, 2010
One of the few films so far this year that deserves to be called an epic. Great acting and superb sets and cinematography make this a great success.
Full Review
| Original Score: 8/10
May 24, 2010
One of the main virtues of John Rabe is to demonstrate that, however much we know about the worst of all wars, it still has little-known corners that can amaze us.
May 23, 2010
Deftly incorporated into the narrative is archival footage from the Nanking Massacre -- a stark reminder of the horrifying true events on which the film is based.
May 21, 2010
Portrait of altruism in the face of staggering odds by a righteous group of foreigners, movingly and passionately enacted as full individuals, not plaster saints.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7/10
May 20, 2010
This is a story of courage and integrity, and the phlegmatic Ulrich Tukur does well by a quiet hero ignored for over half a century.
May 20, 2010
Unusual portrait of a Nazi and German businessman who is known in China as a living Buddha for saving 250,000 citizens of Nanking during the Sino-Japanese war.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
May 20, 2010
Gallenberger has an astute visual sense, and he's good at transmitting lots of information with a single image.
Full Review
| Original Score: 8/10
May 19, 2010
Think of this once-removed re-creation as a melodramatic shoehorn into unspeakable despair.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
May 19, 2010
Ulrich Tukur is an actor of great restraint and yet great expressiveness... John Rabe offers a unique perspective on the rape of Nanking.
April 23, 2010
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
April 7, 2010
A great story that needs to be seen.
Original Score: 3/4
April 2, 2010
A worthy film that pales in comparison to Schindler's List, despite intelligent turns from Ulrich Tukur and Steve Buscemi.