Twenty Two (2015)

Twenty Two: Directed by Ke Guo. An estimated 200,000 Chinese women were forced into prostitution by the Japanese army during WWII. Only 22 of them remain today to speak out publicly. This documentary is not a film for political gains or narrow nationalistic purposes. For the director and the crew, each and every one of those elderly women is a brave and strong individual with similar yet distinctive experiences. This is a group that deserves to be known and correctly understood by more people and a history worth being preserved in a most accurate yet sensitive way. In the documentary, the current situation of those 22 elderly women will be presented in an impersonal way. There’s no interrogation, sympathy, nor exaggeration in our film. You will hear them talk about their own experiences, and you will also learn about their perspectives on life, sufferings and happiness. Now all over 80 or 90 years old, those elderly ladies are at the very last stage of their life. This is probably the last chance for the public to actually see their situations and hear their own words while they are still alive. It should not be a history just written on pages.

“The Anti Japanese war is short for anti Japanese War, which refers to a national all-round war against Japanese aggression in the Second World War in the middle of the 20th century. Internationally, it is called the second Sino Japanese War and the Japanese War of aggression against China.nThe Anti Japanese war lasted 14 years from September 18, 1931 to August 15, 1945. In 1931, after the Japanese invasion of China launched the September 18th Incident,.nthey completely occupied the northeast of China and established the puppet Manchukuo state. After that.nthey successively created troubles and provoked wars in North China, Shanghai and other places.nThe national government adopted a compromise policy to avoid the expansion of the conflict.nOn July 7, 1937, the Japanese Army started the Lugouqiao Incident near Beiping, and the Sino Japanese war broke out in an all-round way.nAfter Japan launched the Pacific War on December 7, 1941, Chongqing national government formally declared war on Japan on December 9. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally to its allies.”