By Juan Markos
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 12/15/24 – I had the privilege of attending the FYC screening of the Chinese documentary The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru on December 10th at the Crescent Theater in Beverly Hills, California. Prior to the event, I had the opportunity to interview the producer and director, Dr. Fang Li, who shared his insights about the film and the inspiration behind it.
Fang Li, a geophysicist and film producer, first learned about the Lisbon Maru while working on another project off the coast of China. The story of the ship had become somewhat of an urban legend, as its sinking went largely unnoticed for seventy-seven years. Li was struck by the mystery of how a vessel could disappear without a trace, and how its tragic fate remained largely unspoken, especially since Japanese military records had misrepresented the event.
Determined to uncover the truth, Fang Li made it his mission to locate the wreckage. He expressed his discomfort knowing that a lost ship lay submerged, and he wondered about the identities of those aboard and the families left behind. Using a magnetometer and imaging sonar, he spent eight years on his quest to find the ship, ultimately uncovering its location.
The Lisbon Maru was a Japanese freighter transporting over 1,800 British POWs back to Japan for internment. In a tragic twist, somewhere between Hong Kong and Japan, a U.S. submarine torpedoed the ship, causing immense loss of life.
This documentary is truly inspiring. Fang Li is nothing short of a hero, not only for finding the ship’s wreckage but also for seeking out survivors and piecing together the events surrounding the disaster. The film features interviews with two of the last surviving POWs who were aboard the ship, as well as family members who lost loved ones in the tragedy.
One of the most astonishing aspects of the story is how the sinking of the Lisbon Maru had been entirely forgotten. When people in Britain were asked if they knew anything about the ship, most had never heard of it. The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru uncovers a long-lost chapter of history, and it’s a must-see for anyone interested in untold stories of war and human resilience.
