Twenty Two
- -TWENTY TWO follows the lives of the elderly survivors who were forced into sex slavery as "Comfort Women" by the Japanese during World War II. At the time of filming, only 22 of these women were still alive to tell their story; through their own personal histories and perspectives, they tell a tale that should never be forgotten to generations unaware of the brutalization that occurred.
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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.
Relater: Exclusive interview with the director Guo Ke
Twenty Two documentary Movie Trailer
Twenty Two, documentary on comfort women during WWII
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.
TWENTY TWO is a last gaze at the 22 “comfort women” survivors in China. Through a restrained and careful approach, we take a look at their current situation. We hope those little pieces of history can be picked up again, and those historical facts which may soon be lost can be preserved permanently. We’re wondering if the busy world could stop for a moment and listen quietly to them one more time, because it is time that we pay final tribute to these lovely elderly ladies.
Trivia
The title “Twenty Two” means only 22 Chinese comfort women still living back in 2015. When this film got re-cut and finally received mainland China release in 2017, only 8 of those 22 still remain.
The film was first edited to a 112-minute version by Xiang Yang and shown at several film festivals. Then the crew invited the famous editor Ching-Song Liao to do a new version, which was the 99-minute cut, this version became the final version to be shown theatrically in mainland China.
Source: IMDB