The initial rolls yield staged propaganda of Japanese-Chinese harmony, but deeper processing uncovers negatives of [[Japanese war crimes|war crimes]]: executions, burnings, mutilations, and assaults. The group secretly duplicates and hides these. Itō, initially seeming humane, exposes his sadism by joining the violence and collecting photos as souvenirs. Tensions mount amid forced labor, traumas, and Wang’s opportunistic threats.
The initial rolls yield staged propaganda of Japanese-Chinese harmony, but deeper processing uncovers negatives of [[Japanese war crimes|war crimes]]: executions, burnings, mutilations, and assaults. The group secretly duplicates and hides these. Itō, initially seeming humane, exposes his sadism by joining the violence and collecting photos as souvenirs. Tensions mount amid forced labor, traumas, and Wang’s opportunistic threats.
[[File:Nanking bodies 1937.jpg|thumb|Civilian massacres are shown in the film.]]
As the occupation drags on and Japanese forces face broader setbacks, orders intensify to eliminate hiding spots. Frustrated by the poor quality of the photos, and growing suspect of the intentions of Ah Chang, Itō secures a Japanese photo developer to start developing the photos. Recognizing the threat, Song kills the newcomer during an outing, martyring himself. Blamed, Wang confronts Lin, urging silence for their escape.
As the occupation drags on and Japanese forces face broader setbacks, orders intensify to eliminate hiding spots. Frustrated by the poor quality of the photos, and growing suspect of the intentions of Ah Chang, Itō secures a Japanese photo developer to start developing the photos. Recognizing the threat, Song kills the newcomer during an outing, martyring himself. Blamed, Wang confronts Lin, urging silence for their escape.
Post-war, the Nanjing Massacre’s architects are sentenced to death at tribunals. Lin, raising Jin’s son, photographs their executions in the style of Japanese atrocity images. The spirits of Ah Chang, Wang, Song, Jin, and other victims observe, their story preserved.
Post-war, the Nanjing Massacre’s architects are sentenced to death at tribunals. Lin, raising Jin’s son, photographs their executions in the style of Japanese atrocity images. The spirits of Ah Chang, Wang, Song, Jin, and other victims observe, their story preserved.
During the end credits, the film shows footage of historical sites in modern-day Nanjing. A hand holds out pictures taken in the exact same locations during the massacre.
==Cast==
==Cast==
2025 film directed by Shen Ao
Dead to Rights (Chinese: 南京照相馆) is a 2025 Chinese historical drama film directed by Shen Ao.[3] It stars Liu Haoran, Wang Chuanjun, Gao Ye, Wang Xiao, Zhou You, Yang Enyou, and Daichi Harashima. Set during the Nanjing Massacre, the film follows a group of civilians who seek refuge in a photo studio amidst the chaos of war, and bravely risk their lives to expose the atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army. The film was released on July 25, 2025.[4]
Plot
In the midst of the Japanese occupation of Nanjing during the Second Sino-Japanese War, widespread atrocities unfold as invading forces massacre civilians, commit rapes, and loot the city. After the initial assault, the Japanese use quisling translator Wang Guanghai to help them control the city by giving him passports out of Nanking for his family. Although married, he is having an affair with an opera actress, Lin Yuxiu, who tries to survive by performing shows for the Japanese military. He stays in an effort to try to get an extra passport for Lin.
Japanese military photographer Itō Hideo is assigned to document the massacre for propaganda. When a superior orders him to execute a civilian to prove his loyalty, Itō discovers the man, postman Ah Chang, carrying photographs and questions if he is a photo developer. Ah Chang lies to save his life and leads Itō to a nearby photo studio. Through Wang as interpreter, Itō gives Ah Chang one day to develop his film rolls.
After Itō and Wang depart, Ah Chang encounters the studio owner, Jin Chengzong, and his family hiding inside. Jin convinces Ah Chang to help develop the photos to avoid drawing suspicion and a search. Ah Chang initially flees toward the city exits but returns after witnessing soldiers executing escapees.
After Jin and Ah Chang develop the photos, Itō returns and tests Ah Chang by taking random negatives in the studio and telling him to develop them in front of him. After satisfactorily completing most of the process, Itō opens the dark room door. When Ah Chang protests saying that the photos would be ruined, Itō replies that they’re all of Chinese pigs and weren’t needed.
As Ah Chang starts to win Itō’s approval and trust, he is offered a passport for doing the work. Wang interjects, replying that Ah Chang has a wife, who he claims to be Lin, in order to secure two passports. Itō agrees and Wang brings over Lin to the studio to live with Ah Chang as his wife to strengthen the ruse. Lin, who was humiliated earlier when the Japanese attempted to make her sing while stripping naked, was then saved by a soldier who had been hiding from the Japanese. Lin smuggles the soldier, Song Cunyi, into the studio as well. When Ah Chang is suspicious of Lin who questions if there’s a family living in the studio, Lin proves her loyalty to China by opening her boxes to reveal a smuggled Song. They all decide to try to work together to survive, the family and Song hiding in the basement, Ah Chang developing the photos slowly and poorly to maintain his position and Lin gathering supplies and food.
The initial rolls yield staged propaganda of Japanese-Chinese harmony, but deeper processing uncovers negatives of war crimes: executions, burnings, mutilations, and assaults. The group secretly duplicates and hides these. Itō, initially seeming humane, exposes his sadism by joining the violence and collecting photos as souvenirs. Tensions mount amid forced labor, traumas, and Wang’s opportunistic threats.
As the occupation drags on and Japanese forces face broader setbacks, orders intensify to eliminate hiding spots. Frustrated by the poor quality of the photos, and growing suspect of the intentions of Ah Chang, Itō secures a Japanese photo developer to start developing the photos. Recognizing the threat, Song kills the newcomer during an outing, martyring himself. Blamed, Wang confronts Lin, urging silence for their escape.
Itō then figures out how to develop photos himself, and is tasked with disposing of Ah Chang. However, he can’t bring himself to shoot Ah Chang, and instead gives him the two passports that he promised for his work. The group decide to cast lots to decide who should take the passports which are modifiable, and Jin’s wife and daughter end up winning the passports. When they leave however, they find that Itō had told the Japanese guards that whoever used those passports were to be shot on sight, and the guards end up killing and raping both the mother and daughter.
Wang storms the studio, demanding Lin leave, just as Itō and his superior arrive, suspicious of the unused passports. When the superior attempts to rape Lin, Wang resists and is shot by Itō. Ah Chang attacks Itō, Jin kills the superior, and Jin blinds Itō with acid. Discovering Wang’s family passports, they assign them to Jin, Lin, and Jin’s infant son. Itō revives and attacks; Ah Chang burns his negatives as a distraction, allowing the others to flee. Ah Chang was stabbed by Itō and he died as the fire burnt down the photo studio.
At the gate, the baby’s cry exposes them. Jin sacrifices himself so Lin and the child reach the Nanjing Safety Zone. There, it’s revealed the group had sewn duplicates of the atrocity negatives into their clothes, ensuring their survival, while they fabricated the negatives of Chinese residents as the ones taken by Itō. The photos are disseminated to global journalists, sparking international condemnation. Humiliated by his failure to prevent the leakage of his photos and realising Ah Chang’s deception, Itō committed suicide by harakiri, and another superior, who personally shot Itō in the head thereafter, covers up Itō’s death as a heroic death in the line of duty.
Post-war, the Nanjing Massacre’s architects are sentenced to death at tribunals. Lin, raising Jin’s son, photographs their executions in the style of Japanese atrocity images. The spirits of Ah Chang, Wang, Song, Jin, and other victims observe, their story preserved.
During the end credits, the film shows footage of historical sites in modern-day Nanjing. A hand holds out pictures taken in the exact same locations during the massacre.
Cast
Background
The photography studio depicted in the film is based on the Huadong Photo Studio, historically located near today’s Guyilang area in Nanjing. Luo Jin, an apprentice at the studio, discovered negatives containing images of atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers when developing film sent by Japanese officers in early 1938.[5] Risking his life, Luo developed these negatives and compiled them into an album. Due to hardship, Luo later joined a communications training team affiliated with Wang Jingwei‘s collaborationist government’s guard brigade stationed at Pilu Temple, where he hid the album in a restroom. In 1941, the album was discovered and secretly preserved by Wu Liankai, who was undergoing training at the same temple.[6]
In 1946, after Japan’s surrender, Wu Liankai, who by then had changed his name to Wu Xuan, learned that the Nanjing Provisional Senate was gathering evidence for the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal to prosecute war criminals. He submitted the hidden photo album, which became crucial evidence for the conviction of Hisao Tani, one of the principal perpetrators of the Nanjing Massacre. The album is currently preserved at the Second Historical Archives of China.[7]
Production
In 2023, director Shen Ao, inspired by a discussion with Zhang Ke (screenwriter of the film The Volunteers: To the War) and revisiting Nanjing Film Studio’s 1987 production Massacre in Nanjing, decided it was essential to “retell this story in our times”. Shen then contacted Nanjing Film Studio, the rights holder of Massacre in Nanjing, and acquired the adaptation rights, initiating extensive research into the historical event of “smuggling photographic evidence out of Nanjing” to form the foundation of the new film.[8][9][10] While his previous film, No More Bets (2023), was still fresh in public memory, Shen immediately assembled his creative team to start production on Dead to Rights.[8]
Release
_Movie_Poster.jpg)
Dead to Rights was jointly produced by China Film Group and several other studios. Initially scheduled for release on August 2, 2025, the date was later moved up to July 25, with nationwide previews conducted on July 19–20. By July 20, earnings from previews and advance ticket sales exceeded ¥30 million. After its official release, the film’s single-day box office surpassed ¥100 million on July 26.[11] By 8 p.m. on July 28, four days into its official release, the film’s total box office had surpassed ¥500 million.[8][10]
References
- ^ “Dead to Rights (18)”. British Board of Film Classification. 23 August 2025. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
- ^ “Dead To Rights (南京照相馆) (2025)”. The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
- ^ “南京照相馆”. Maoyan. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
- ^ “觀影說劇／「南京照相館」最新畫面曝光描寫戰爭裡的掙扎”. World Journal. July 6, 2025. Archived from the original on August 4, 2025. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
- ^ “三个关键词，读懂《南京照相馆》里更多隐藏故事”. 交汇点新闻. July 22, 2025. Archived from the original on August 5, 2025. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
- ^ “【人民的力量】十六：两名青年誓死守护南京大屠杀铁证，电影《南京照相馆》正是他们的故事！”. Yangtse Evening Post. July 23, 2025. Archived from the original on August 5, 2025. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
- ^ “他偶然间发现的秘密，让拒不认罪的南京大屠杀主犯俯首认罪”. 江苏新闻广播. December 7, 2017. Archived from the original on August 5, 2025. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
- ^ a b c “专访《南京照相馆》导演申奥：不必血腥当噱头，吾辈自强是对历史最好的回应”. Shangguan News. July 28, 2025. Archived from the original on September 5, 2025. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
- ^ “《南京照相馆》导演申奥:自强不息是对历史最好的回应”. Global Times. July 28, 2025. Archived from the original on August 5, 2025. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
- ^ a b “《南京照相馆》热映 以冷静叙事定格历史真相”. 舜网-济南时报. July 29, 2025. Archived from the original on August 5, 2025. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
- ^ “《南京照相馆》单日票房过亿！热度口碑一路走高，超 700万人走进影院观影”. 江苏新闻. July 27, 2025. Archived from the original on August 5, 2025. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
