You may not know who John Rabe is, and I'm presuming that exactly why a movie called simply John Rabe has been given the beefed-up title of City of War: The Story of John Rabe in the hope of suggesting more clearly to a UK audience that it's a biographical drama set in the WAR. Which war? Ah...

John Rabe was a German businessman employed in the Nanking office of the Siemens China Corporation, who during the notorious Rape of Nanking by the invading Japanese army actively attempted to halt Japanese atrocities and helped to establish the The Nanjing Safety Zone, in which some 200,000 Chinese citizens were protected from slaughter.

The 2009 film version of the story was directed by Florian Gallenberger and stars veteran actor Ulrich Tukur (most recently seen in the UK as Henry Arau in Philipp Stölzl's Nordwand) as Rabe, and co-stars Daniel Brühl of Good Bye Lenin! and The Edukators) and a certain Steve Buscemi, whose face you just may be familiar with by now. It won Outstanding Feature Film, Best Production Design, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and Best Costume Design at last year's German Film Awards, and Best Production and Best Actor at the Bavarian Film Awards.

City of War: The Story of John Rabe will be released on UK DVD and Blu-ray on 3rd May 2010 by Metrodome at the RRP of £15.99 (DVD) and £19.99 (Blu-ray). No extras have so far been listed.