Editorial丨War-themed movies teach important lessons

As part of the events commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggressionfrom1931 to 1945 and the World Anti-Fascist War, many war-themed movies have or are going to hit cinema screens both at home and overseas.作为纪念1931年至1945年中国人民抗日战争和世界反法西斯战争胜利80周年活动的一部分，许多以战争为主题的电影已经或将要在国内外上映。Dead to Rights is one of them. Centered on the Nanjing Massacre, in just eight days since its July 25 release, the movie has become the top-grossing film of the country's summer box office, with revenues surpassing 1 billion yuan.南京照相馆就是其中之一。这部电影以南京大屠杀为中心，自7月25日上映以来仅八天，就成为中国夏季票房收入最高的电影，收入超过10亿元。Based on true events, the film follows a group of civilians in a Japanese-controlled photo studio in Nanjing, where, as they are forced to develop images for the occupiers, they secretly document the atrocities being carried out by the Japanese troops, risking their lives to preserve the evidence of Japanese war crimes.这部电影以真实事件为基础，讲述了一群平民在南京一家日本控制的摄影棚里，在那里，当他们被迫为占领者拍摄图像时，他们冒着生命危险，秘密记录了日本军队正在实施的暴行，以保存日本战争罪行的证据。Many moviegoers have attributed the film's success to its powerful storytelling and compelling performances, describing it as a vivid "history lesson" for the younger generation.许多影迷将这部电影的成功归功于其强大的故事讲述和引人注目的表演，称其为年轻一代生动的“历史课”。Another film, 731, which revisits the horrific World War II-era human experiments conducted by Japan's notorious biological and chemical warfare unit, the eponymous 731, is set to premiere on Sept 18, to coincide with the 94th anniversary of the Sept 18 Incident in 1931, which marked the start of Japan's invasion of China.另一部电影《731》重温了日本臭名昭著的生物和化学战部队731在第二次世界大战期间进行的可怕的人体实验，该电影将于9月18日首映，以纪念1931年九一八事变94周年，九一八事变标志着日本入侵中国的开始。During the 14-year-long war, China suffered more than 35 million casualties, both military and civilian, and Japanese troops committed countless heinous crimes that deserved universal condemnation.在长达14年的战争中，中国遭受了3500多万军事和平民伤亡，日本军队犯下了无数令人发指的罪行，值得普遍谴责。Yet due to various reasons, many people in the West are still not fully aware of the horrific acts committed by Japanese invaders in China eight decades ago. While the Holocaust is taught in all history textbooks in the West, the Nanjing Massacre remains not fully understood despite its scale and significance. In 2022, when Evan Kail, a US pawnshop owner, decided to donate a photo album documenting Japanese wartime atrocities in China to the Chinese consulate in Chicago, he even faced death threats. "I want more people to know the truth," he explained about his courageous act.然而，由于种种原因，西方许多人仍然没有充分意识到80年前日本侵略者在中国犯下的可怕行径。虽然西方所有历史教科书都教授大屠杀，但南京大屠杀的规模和意义仍然没有得到充分理解。2022年，当美国当铺老板Evan Kail决定向中国驻芝加哥领事馆捐赠一本记录日本战时暴行的相册时，他甚至面临死亡威胁。“我希望更多的人知道真相，”他解释了自己的勇敢行为。Now after watching Dead to Rights, Kail has urged all people, especially those in the West, to see the film, so that "the story of what was in (that) photo album could continue to be shared".现在，在看完《南京照相馆》后，凯尔敦促所有人，尤其是西方人，去看这部电影，这样“相册里的故事就可以继续被分享”。Indeed, the war-related films are not intended to foster animosity but to help shape our collective memory so that these war crimes will never be forgotten. This is the right way to honor those who gave their lives to uphold freedom, justice and peace, and mourn the loss of innocent lives brutally taken during the war. Only by remembering the horrors of the past can people today truly cherish peace.事实上，与战争有关的电影不是为了培养敌意，而是为了帮助塑造我们的集体记忆，使这些战争罪行永远不会被遗忘。这是向那些为维护自由、正义与和平而献出生命的人致敬的正确方式，也是对战争中惨遭杀害的无辜生命的哀悼。只有记住过去的恐怖，今天的人们才能真正珍惜和平。It is outrageous that Japanese rightists still try to deny Japan's wartime atrocities and successive postwar Japanese governments still try to whitewash the country's past crimes. This makes people in countries victimized by Japanese aggressors doubt whether the country has really severed itself from its militaristic past. They rightly question whether Japan is ready to join hands with its Asian neighbors to build a peaceful and prosperous future.令人愤慨的是，日本右翼分子仍然试图否认日本的战争暴行，战后历届日本政府仍然试图粉饰该国过去的罪行。这使得日本侵略者受害国的人民怀疑这个国家是否真的与军国主义的过去断绝了关系。他们正确地质疑日本是否准备与亚洲邻国携手建设一个和平繁荣的未来。That some politicians in Japan are still regularly paying homage to the Yasukuni Shrine, where convicted war criminals who committed atrocities against humanity are enshrined, makes the sporadic apologies and remorse Japan has previously expressed for that war of aggression sound hollow and perfunctory.日本的一些政客仍然经常参拜靖国神社，那里供奉着犯下危害人类暴行的被定罪的战犯，这使得日本此前对那场侵略战争表示的零星道歉和悔恨听起来空洞而敷衍了事。But it should be noted that Japanese people were also the victims of Japan's wartime militarism. It is wrong to foster hatred against a people just because a small minority of Japanese militarists set off the war of aggression. Rather, the people of China and Japan should pass on friendship from generation to generation through improved communication, bearing in mind that forgetting history is tantamount to the betrayal of truth.但应该指出的是，日本人民也是日本战时军国主义的受害者。仅仅因为一小部分日本军国主义者发动了侵略战争，就煽动对一个民族的仇恨是错误的。相反，中日两国人民应该通过加强沟通将友谊代代相传，铭记忘记历史等于背叛真理。universal condemnationn.普遍谴责/ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːsəl ˌkɒndəmˈneɪʃən/wartime militarismn.战时军国主义/ˈwɔːtaɪm ˈmɪlɪtəˌrɪzəm/