'Comfort women' film Great Cold draws tears in SF

A "comfort women" advocacy group in San Francisco is working to promote a Chinese film about those victims in an effort to raise international awareness of the issue.

The film, Great Cold, tells the story of two young sisters who are sexually enslaved by invading Japanese forces in a village in Shanxi during World War II.

The film was screened for the first time in the US after its release in January in China, thanks to the efforts of the "Comfort Women" Justice Coalition, a San Francisco-based advocacy group.

The positive feedback from the audience has prompted the group to consider more screenings.

"The film is very realistic, and the director did an excellent job telling this very horrific, appalling, atrocious real story from the viewpoint of a Chinese 'comfort woman' who is still alive and a witness to everything in the movie," said Lillian Sing, co-chair of CWJC.

She admits that thefilm isdifficult to watch because it is "so real and so cruel".

"There was not a dry eye in the audience.I heard snifflesand sobs in the room.I myself was extremely moved and used up several Kleenexes," Sing said.

She said themen in the audiencewere more angry and upset, and the women were more emotional and expressed pain and sorrow.It wasespecially difficult for several male viewers who had to leave early, she said.

One of the most difficult scenes is when the heroine decides to commit suicide rather than face discrimination from her fellow villagers after she finds herself pregnant after being raped by Japanese soldiers.

"Our 'comfort woman' NaNa was shunned by her neighbors and even her daughter after the war, as if she was to blame for what happened to her and brought disgrace to her family and community," said Sing."I suspectshe suffered 10 times worse than what was described in the movie."

During World War II (1939-1945), hundreds of thousands of women and girls were sexually enslaved by the Japanese Imperial Army in Asia-Pacific countries, mainly China and Korea. They are euphemistically called "comfort women".

These war crimes, however, were swept under the rug, and the survivors were left to struggle with the aftereffects of their harrowing experiences on their own.

"I am so impressed thatNaNawas brave enoughto open up and tell her story to the world," said Sing. "This movie is so important so the world can hear, see, and actually feel what happened to our Chinese 'comfort woman' NaNa."

The film currently has only English and Korean subtitles. Sing is urging the producers to translate the subtitles into more languages, especially Japanese.

Last September, another film featuring Chinese "comfort women" was screened in Southern California. The documentary, Twenty Two, looks at the lives of 22 surviving "comfort women". The film was originally titled Thirty Two but by the time it was completed, there were only 22 of them left.

The rapidly decreasing number of "comfort women" survivors instills a sense of urgency in the advocates to capture the women's narratives while they are still alive.

Some CWJC members are considering visiting the real "NaNa", who is frail and in her late 90s, in October this year.

"I want to bring her a personal message that we admire her courage tobreak her silence and tell the world what had happened to her. We also want to tell her that we in America will never allowthe murderers, rapists and monstersto get away with their crimes against her and others, and that we will do everything we can to fight for justice for her and all the otherNaNas," said Sing.

Contact the writer at liazhu@chinadailyusa.com