On the 61st anniversary of the surrender of Tokyo in World War II, it was announced by a Hollywood production company that a movie is to be made about the slaughter of Chinese civilians by Japanese troops in 1937.

Gerald Green is the American producer and is responsible for films such as Salvador. US $20 million is to be invested from America in the US $25 million budget, and top Chinese stars are being touted as possible cast members. From the story in The Scotsman

The planned film about the massacres of tens of thousands of Chinese civilians by Japanese troops will be based on Iris Chang's best-selling account, "The Rape of Nanking," Xinhua news agency said...

...According to official Chinese accounts, 300,000 Chinese men, women and children were slaughtered by invading Japanese troops in the war-time capital Nanjing, formerly known as Nanking.

The 1948 Tokyo war crimes tribunal found Japanese troops killed 155,000 people, mainly women and children.

The Chinese investors say that this film is to be viewed as Schindlers List, as a reminder so that people do not forget those who died, not to "stimulate hatred".

I don't know the history around these events, but I do believe that committing events like this to film, as accurately as possible, can have a hugely positive effect. They offer past events in an accessibly medium and ensure that people don't forget the horrors of real war. However, we all know the problems (we've talked about them a lot here) if events aren't recorded true to historical fact. Just think of the potential harm if this story is altered by Hollywood historians?