Men Behind the Sun

[KPWNINJA]

Just wanted to know if anyone else here has seen the film Men Behind the Sun by Mou Tun Fei?

It's about the war atrocities committed by the Japanese at Unit 731. The film was meant to be a historically accurate and educational portrayal of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and the various cruel medical experiments inflicted upon the Chinese. However it's extreme violence has casued the film to be look down upon due to it's explorative nature.

However I'd urge you to take a look at this well made and disturbing HK film (if only once) that is much better than a lot of people make it out to be!

[Angel]

Still haven't got around to seeing this.


By the way KPWNINJA, was the sequence showing a cat being terrorised/killed by rats genuine or was it faked?

Some say it was clearly faked and the animal came to no harm others (including the BBFC) say that the cat did come to harm.

[KPWNINJA]

That is a tough question as I'm not sure myself. I hope it wasn't real but that sequence is very convincing. I think a lot of that argument comes from the way the cat just lies amongst the rats, near the end of the scene, looking up towards the camera. Wouldn't the cat put up a least some sort of a fight?

There was an interview somewhere where Mou Tun Fei explained that he loved animals but the scene had some sort of a meaning to it and it was down to your own interpretation. Which I can't figure out if it's a yes that scene was real or not.

The rats being burned alive afterwards however was very much real.

[mark meakin]

Even if the cat was not hurt as much as it seemed the poor thing must have been traumatised by its ordeal.Quite a powerful film and pretty well made.

[Angel]

Originally Posted by mark meakin

Even if the cat was not hurt as much as it seemed the poor thing must have been traumatised by its ordeal.

Exactly, Mark.

I've always avoided watching this film because I don't want to see the scene with the cat but I might watch it now just to see what my opinion on the particular scene is. But like Mark says even if the cat wasn't hurt it still sounds totally unacceptable.

[SimonT]

I've seen this one, however I think to class this as an "exploitation" film would do it a great injustice.

Certainly there were some very graphic grotesque scenes which were an ordeal to sit through, BUT these were not presented just for the sake of grossing people out. The film tries to remain historically accurate, is well shot, well acted and has a number of sympathetic characters that shows how many of the younger people who voluneered to work there were just as much victims of circumstance as the prisoners.

Id recommend viewing it because as far as history goes, people think the Germans were the main bad guys of WW2. The Japs were far worse!

[KPWNINJA]

I would not class Men Behind the Sun as exploitation either but unfortunately the film has fell into that subcategory due to it's extreme violence. Most just don't see any educational value within the film... The animal cruelty and the autopsy scene can be blamed for that! It's a shame really.

[Spengler]

The cat scene is, to the best of my knowledge real and that cat does get killed. What I've always found interesting is that people seem to get upset about the cat being killed by rats, but in the scene where the fire breaks out there are dozens of rats running around on fire which nobody seems too bothered about.

The film is also notorious for its use of real corpses in scenes, though this only occurs once. There's a scene of a body in a decompression chamber that is credited as real quite often, which it isn't. There is however a scene of an autopsy on you young boy which is real (I think the boy was killed i a car accident).

There's an interview with the director I read a while ago at http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/9901/offs...anBehind1.html if anyone's interested.

I recommend his follow up film Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre. It's less of an exploitation film than MBTS though still excellent and very brutal.

[vipco]

I recon the scene with the cat is real.

I rember an interview with the director in DS were he said he was always asked was it a real corpse in the presure tank scene it was so convincing but he said it was SFX , but the heart surgery scene was a genuine body of a kid who had died in a bike accident were they were filiming and his family ok'ed the use of the body.

Alot of peoples doubts about the movie seems to be due to the involvment of China in the making of the film.

Personally I thought it was quite a powerfull film though I could'nt understand everything they were saying as my copy had Asian language and European subs, but was fully uncut.

[Halloween_22]

I've never been able to make up my mind about the cat scene personally. I heard that the cat was drugged so that it'd stay still but wasn't actually killed, I don't know for certain though. I cant believe thats the scene that gets mentioned the most to be honest, theres far more disturbing scenes than that IMO.

I agree vip's, it's a very powerful film indeed. One of the most depressing and downbeat films I've ever seen. I have a collectors 2 Disc version of it released by Shock Entertainment that features a documentary called Kizu: The Untold Story in which real survivors from Unit 731 are interviewed. Definatley worth picking up if your interested in the subject.

Another film about the same thing is Iskanov's 'Philosophy of a Knife', thats one of the sickest, most brutal films I've ever seen. It's around 4 hours long so it's a bit of an endurance test but again, I'd recommend it if your interested in Unit 731 (although In all honesty it's more about exploiting extreme violence and gore than showing historical facts).