(Please note that while the plot is not spoiled in my review, I describe some of the real-life atrocities depicted in the film and readers are advised to skip over the second paragraph if they may be disturbed by the content.)
This past Spring, I had the distinct privilege to view a film which, to the best of my knowledge, remains unreleased on any format in the United States. The film was Godfrey Ho's Men Behind the Sun, an incredibly disturbing and realistic account of horrors inflicted upon the people of China and Russia by the Japanese government during World War II. The film details the events that went on behind the walls of `Unit 731', a facility based in China that the Japanese government used to test biological warfare on living, human subjects.
These `experiments' included locking a man into a decompression chamber until his body expelled his organs; chaining a woman to ice in the freezing cold to see how long it would take before her arms fell off; and dissecting a living human boy. These unspeakable atrocities were not unlike the crimes committed in European concentration camps, yet they have not been given a fraction of the recognizance. I had only the vaguest notions of Chinese people being tortured during World War II, and even my fleeting knowledge is probably greater than that of most Americans; it is a subject that is simply not covered in conventional classroom environments.
I did not view Men Behind the Sun entirely by choice, as I was asked to screen it for a DVD review. Had I not seen this film, I would not likely have ever known about the tragedies which it depicts. And if I were to learn about it, it would most likely be through a documentary, a textbook, or a toned-down Hollywood reenactment. Fortunately, I learned about the subject matter through this film. Because it was made outside of Hollywood (it is a Hong Kong production) it did not have to pander to censors or mainstream audiences. As such, the violence in this movie is incredibly brutal and realistic. Many of the special effects were supposedly shot using medical cadavers as opposed to prosthetics, and having seen the film I would say that this was the case.
It has only the faintest semblance of a (presumably fictionalized) storyline, instead playing like a documentary and presenting the factual accounts as if they were happening before the viewer's eyes. The `story' is of a group of young Japanese boys who are sent to Unit 731 to train for enrolment in the Japanese army. There they are stripped of their innocence, brainwashed into dehumanizing the Chinese prisoners and molded into heartless killing machines. Their story parallels the gruesome experimentation of the generals on the Chinese and Russian victims, and is equally tragic and pessimistic. Characters and dialogue in this film are fairly incidental, but the imagery is not. Many of the film's scene compositions and setpieces are as strangely fascinating as they are horrific, merely adding to the queasy feeling provoked in the viewer. This, however, is director Godfrey Ho's intention. Once you embark upon the journey of viewing this film, there is no turning back. When the credits have rolled, the viewer is inevitably still staring at the screen in disbelief, its images certain to linger in the mind's eye for days. This only serves to prove that the film has successfully made its point, and will not be forgotten by the viewer.
The film is clearly advertised as an exploitation film, in spite of the fact that none of the content is actually exploitative. It is bold, it is real, and it is vital, making a crucial point that might otherwise elude the masses. To relegate it to `hard gore cinema' is to damn it to the disgust of censors and scoffdom of film critics. Only through choosing to overlook its undue reputation can viewers fully appreciate the film, and only through fully appreciating the film can a viewer further appreciate the true horrors and untold threats of World War II.
The film is presented in its theatrical 1.85:1 letterbox aspect ratio in a transfer that has been digitally restored from the original 35 mm negative. For a film that is sadly rather obscure in most parts of the world, Japan Shock Video has really gone all out to insure a solid transfer, and the result is a terrific DVD. It would be nice if Synapse added this title to their Asian Cult Cinema Collection or if Criterion restored and repackaged this film as they did with Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salo (a similarly disturbing film) a few years ago.
There has been no word in the DVD community of a domestic issue of the film, and considering the hotbed of censorship issues it would provoke, I doubt that it will be seen on Stateside shelves in any format anytime soon. As such, this code-free DVD is an absolute must-have for fans of the film and those interested in the most comprehensive history of World War II or the darkest possibilities of human nature. Casual viewers may want to give it a second thought, for while Men Behind the Sun is truly one of the most tremendous cinematic achievements of all time, it is also perhaps the most unshakeable and disturbing.
This past Spring, I had the distinct privilege to view a film which, to the best of my knowledge, remains unreleased on any format in the United States. The film was Godfrey Ho's Men Behind the Sun, an incredibly disturbing and realistic account of horrors inflicted upon the people of China and Russia by the Japanese government during World War II. The film details the events that went on behind the walls of `Unit 731', a facility based in China that the Japanese government used to test biological warfare on living, human subjects.
These `experiments' included locking a man into a decompression chamber until his body expelled his organs; chaining a woman to ice in the freezing cold to see how long it would take before her arms fell off; and dissecting a living human boy. These unspeakable atrocities were not unlike the crimes committed in European concentration camps, yet they have not been given a fraction of the recognizance. I had only the vaguest notions of Chinese people being tortured during World War II, and even my fleeting knowledge is probably greater than that of most Americans; it is a subject that is simply not covered in conventional classroom environments.
I did not view Men Behind the Sun entirely by choice, as I was asked to screen it for a DVD review. Had I not seen this film, I would not likely have ever known about the tragedies which it depicts. And if I were to learn about it, it would most likely be through a documentary, a textbook, or a toned-down Hollywood reenactment. Fortunately, I learned about the subject matter through this film. Because it was made outside of Hollywood (it is a Hong Kong production) it did not have to pander to censors or mainstream audiences. As such, the violence in this movie is incredibly brutal and realistic. Many of the special effects were supposedly shot using medical cadavers as opposed to prosthetics, and having seen the film I would say that this was the case.
It has only the faintest semblance of a (presumably fictionalized) storyline, instead playing like a documentary and presenting the factual accounts as if they were happening before the viewer's eyes. The `story' is of a group of young Japanese boys who are sent to Unit 731 to train for enrolment in the Japanese army. There they are stripped of their innocence, brainwashed into dehumanizing the Chinese prisoners and molded into heartless killing machines. Their story parallels the gruesome experimentation of the generals on the Chinese and Russian victims, and is equally tragic and pessimistic. Characters and dialogue in this film are fairly incidental, but the imagery is not. Many of the film's scene compositions and setpieces are as strangely fascinating as they are horrific, merely adding to the queasy feeling provoked in the viewer. This, however, is director Godfrey Ho's intention. Once you embark upon the journey of viewing this film, there is no turning back. When the credits have rolled, the viewer is inevitably still staring at the screen in disbelief, its images certain to linger in the mind's eye for days. This only serves to prove that the film has successfully made its point, and will not be forgotten by the viewer.
The film is clearly advertised as an exploitation film, in spite of the fact that none of the content is actually exploitative. It is bold, it is real, and it is vital, making a crucial point that might otherwise elude the masses. To relegate it to `hard gore cinema' is to damn it to the disgust of censors and scoffdom of film critics. Only through choosing to overlook its undue reputation can viewers fully appreciate the film, and only through fully appreciating the film can a viewer further appreciate the true horrors and untold threats of World War II.
The film is presented in its theatrical 1.85:1 letterbox aspect ratio in a transfer that has been digitally restored from the original 35 mm negative. For a film that is sadly rather obscure in most parts of the world, Japan Shock Video has really gone all out to insure a solid transfer, and the result is a terrific DVD. It would be nice if Synapse added this title to their Asian Cult Cinema Collection or if Criterion restored and repackaged this film as they did with Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salo (a similarly disturbing film) a few years ago.
There has been no word in the DVD community of a domestic issue of the film, and considering the hotbed of censorship issues it would provoke, I doubt that it will be seen on Stateside shelves in any format anytime soon. As such, this code-free DVD is an absolute must-have for fans of the film and those interested in the most comprehensive history of World War II or the darkest possibilities of human nature. Casual viewers may want to give it a second thought, for while Men Behind the Sun is truly one of the most tremendous cinematic achievements of all time, it is also perhaps the most unshakeable and disturbing.
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