Today I watched Nanjing Photo Studio. As someone who has lived in Nanjing for over six years, I’ve come to regard it as my second hometown. The place names mentioned in the film’s dialogue—Fuzimiao, Zijin Mountain, Zhonghua Gate, Yuhua Terrace, Mochou Lake, etc.—are all deeply familiar to me, stirring up my most vulnerable emotions. Although the entire movie is profoundly oppressive, I still highly recommend experiencing it in theaters before it’s gone.

The following content is not a review and has only loose connections to the film; it’s simply an opportunity to express some personal views.

Let me share a few scenes that left the deepest impression:

1. When Nanjing’s defenders assessed the situation and prepared to retreat, they were pointed at by their own comrades and ordered not to leave.
2. A new recruit says, "According to the Geneva Conventions, we cannot kill prisoners of war," only to be scolded by his superior, who then personally demonstrates how it’s done.
3. Japanese photographer Ito gently feeds a rice ball to a dog, completely indifferent to the countless Chinese civilians brutally murdered in the background.
4. After learning how to develop photos, Ito prepares to kill Su Liuchang but suddenly hesitates and instead gives him two exit passes. At that moment, I truly believed he still had conscience—a victim of Japan’s militarism. But later I realized he was merely a coward who couldn’t bring himself to kill and instead delegated the task to another Japanese soldier—an outright hypocrite.
5. Ito ultimately kills a collaborator who resists, saying, "This is what happens when a dog bites its master."
6. After being stabbed, Su Liuchang speaks in Japanese: "We were never friends. Never."

I must say, Ito’s portrayal as an antagonist is remarkably well-executed—it perfectly illustrates how, under a militaristic system, a young man who once dared not harm others can be transformed into a beast.

Listing these scenes is also meant to convey a broader idea: in war, whether aggressor or victim, ordinary people become tools, stripped of agency and reduced to grains of sand swept along by the tide of history. To truly prevent war, we must look deeper. Most modern wars have been used by rulers as pressure valves for domestic tensions—Germany and Japan in the past, Israel today. Even if we could erase all national, ethnic, class, and religious divisions across Earth, as long as power remains concentrated in the hands of a few, conflict between people will remain inevitable. Only communism—or even more advanced social forms—can truly relegate the word "war" to history.

For clarity, let me add a disclaimer: I do not oppose government or authority. Communism must be achieved—but the path ahead is long and uncertain, with no visible light yet. Until then, we still need a strong state apparatus and patriotic citizens to drive sustained societal progress.

By the way, the recent chapters of Re:Future: 1999 also feature outstanding depictions of war. If interested, you might want to check them out (not an advertisement).

While writing this, I also came across online reactions to the recently released film 731. Honestly, it’s frustrating… turning such a serious historical subject into this kind of spectacle, then exploiting the title and release timing to profit from Chinese patriotism. Our patriotism isn’t cheap. Works like this shouldn’t exist—because cheap patriotism only pushes society toward far-right extremism, something many countries are already suffering from. I certainly don’t want our people to fall under such extremist ideologies.