角斗士

本片采用了大量南京大屠杀中的真实录像和幸存者的口述，反映了南京大屠杀中的几个点，并撑起了一个让人感觉近在咫尺的面。几个演员的表演只是端正的坐在椅子上，朗读当事人的日记，报道等。虽然手法如此简洁，但我感到这部电影对我的触动要大于所有之前看过的反映南京大屠杀的电影，也许是以前看其他电影的时候年龄还比较小。但导演对素材的选取，对演员朗读段落的选取无疑增加了这部电影的震撼力，也许，在反映那样一个时代，那样一次事件，那样的残暴和那样的恐惧的时候，一切表演都是苍白的，一些感受，只有当事者清。也许当主题从憎恨日本人，从叫嚷踏平日本蹂躏所有日本女人升华成反对战争，反对邪恶，彰显正义与人性的时候，观众心灵才会产生真正的共鸣。

片中引用了几位南京安全区的创建者的话，这一安全区拯救了约25万中国人的生命。

Lewis Smyth，社会学教授：

Do I hate the japanese? No.I dislike very much their policy, and I dislike very much the way they are treating the common people of China. But if I'm ever given the opportunity of doing the same for the Janpanese, as we've done here, for the Chinese men, women and children, I would do the same, right over again.

George Fitch，传教士：

In Los Angeles, a couple of speeches were lined up for me...and following the meeting, a Japanese gentleman approched me and said that my statment about the atrocities in NanKing were not true. They COULD NOT be true, for Japanese, were incapable, of such acts. He asked me to retract some of the tings I had said and intimated that it would be best for me if I did so. I told him that I had many Japanese friends and knew that most Japanese were incapable of such acts I had described. But, I said, unfortunatly, everything I said was true, and hence, I could retract, nothing.

Minnie Vautrin 金陵女子学院美国女教师，在大屠杀期间全力保护难民。1940年因精神失常回到美国，1年后在家中自杀，她在遗书中写道：

I have deeply loved and respected the cause of missions in Ginling College, had I ten lives, I would dedicate them all to this cause of kingdom building...But at last, I have failed.

以及著名的约翰拉贝，作为一名德国人，纳粹党人，他几次用自己特殊的身份掩护难民。回国后，他将自己在南京的日记和录像天真地交给了希特勒，希望后者能对日本施加压力，结果却因此受罪，被关入监狱，二战结束后，他又受到了苏联人的怀疑，晚年凄凉。当南京人民听到这个消息后伸出援手（其中许多是当年收到过拉贝救助的难民）筹集了数千美金，并由南京市长亲自送往德国。

另，这样一部电影，不是出自中国人之手，即是一种耻，也是一种必然。