Men Behind the Sun (1988)

If you can stomach such horrendous violence, then I'd almost call it necessary to watch this film if you want to know just how evil human beings can become when there's power going into the wrong hands. Men Behind the Sun is shot in an emotionless documentary-style fashion. It contains bits & pieces of music here and there to fill in the spot, but music is very rare. Instead we are watching these men discussing their callous toned conversations on what experiments to conduct on living, breathing human beings. The unit is led by one of the most repugnant and downright evil people to ever hold some sort of prestige and supremacy in the 20th century. He justified his terror by convincing scientists and doctors that the Chinese captives were 'logs for burning' and that it was fundamental that they were used for chemical weapon research. We all know this to not be true and that this man wanted to witness, participate and beget suffering and domination through dehumanization and bloodlust. While I won't give any scenes away, I will say that it is very realistic and gruesome. The things they show were things that these people did, so don't think that this is an exploitation flick, but a team of filmmakers that wanted to showcase this to the people responsible and that they won't hold back on the details. No tension, no scares. Every victim is not overshadowed or dumbed down to make you comfortable. The movie reminds us that they are humans. Most importantly, it's a reminder that human beings should feel shame for this and that we should never under any circumstances allow this to occur if we have the power.

This film is very heavy, full of gore, torture and suffering. If it was a curry (the hotter the gorier) it is the phaal; certainly not one for those with a weak stomach. Snow is meant to untainted and pure white. In Men behind the Sun it is a torture device. What was once a carpet of untouched white is scarred with crimson Children, babies, women, men and animals are tortured in this film. If you have sensitivities towards any of these groups then please avoid this film. If you can't handle very graphic images that are relentless throughout the film then don't watch it either. There is no light relief. This film shows how desire to win a war turns the human heart into ice.So who do I recommend this film to? To be honest I can't think of anything beside those with a high gore tolerance. You won't enjoy this film and it was never meant to be. Every torture scene is not art, it is a stake warning. This kind of thing happened once and could happen again. How I wish I had the ability to delete certain scenes from my mind after watching. Despite this I don't regret viewing the thing. On the contrary, it isn't just a mindless gorefest with no purpose other than to titillate and stun the audience. It is beautifully shot and the acting of the large cast is realistic. Like other reviewers have said 'one viewing is enough'. This film will live with you for a long time.

Let me first start this review by saying that "Men behind the sun" is one of the most unique amalgamations of genres, in this case that of a war movie and an exploitation movie. Just think of what happens when you cross "Salo, or the I20 days of Sodom" with the "The Great Escape" and you would hit the right ballpark. "MBTS", however, has a significant degree of difference from other exploitationers like "Ilsa" or even "I spit on your grave" and this is where the sickening strength of the film truly lies. Unlike those said movies, "MBTS" is based on real events, and the movie follows these events down to the bitter and tragic end. (With minor plot additions of course)The plot of "MBTS" follows the exploits of almost everybody involved in the Manchu-based Japanese Unit 731, the medical unit responsible for carrying out the bulk of the biological experiments via unspeakably misanthropic ways. The specimens in these experiments were not frogs or rats or even your usual guinea pigs, rather it involved real live humans and included (but not limited to) captured soldiers, domesticated animals, and even children. What makes the movie even better is that it adheres to these facts with much reverence. Mous and company, even with the lack of actual evidence, manage to recreate the gruesome set-pieces through the several eyewitness accounts. Thematically and graphically, the movie never fails. One thing that makes this particular movie stand out is the fact that it never falters from showing unspeakable acts. If one has read from the interviews of T.F Mou, the crew stopped at nothing to show the atrocities done by the Japanese, going as far as using a real corpse of a boy during the murder-autopsy scene. Such audacity went along way indeed, with the ending showing a Chinese boy, who is about to escape from the camp, getting a Japanese flag rammed through his neck. (What a subtle effort in showing cinematic symbolism)What makes MBTS even more disturbing is its efforts to achieve a linear narrative form, or in other words its effort to become more of a movie and less of a documentary. So what's the deal with that? In normal, narrative movies, the audiences are always expecting the hero to save the day, to serve the each antagonist their share of comeuppance. In this film, that never happens. The hero-villain relationship does not exist in this movie. What we have here is an Oppressor-Victim relationship. The people in the movie that manage to gain our sympathy are disemboweled, skinned alive, impaled, explode their guts etc. I must make clear that if it were a documentary, it would have been less disturbing for ME, but to see it in colored celluloid and with it trying to pass of as just another HK movie makes my blood run cold. These were real atrocities, and now we get to see them literally in the flesh.Overall, I must honestly say that MBTS surprisingly sickened me, and this is coming from a guy who has watched Baise-Moi, Ken Park, Inside, Untold Story, Ichi the Killer, Visitor Q, Poultrygeist, and A Serbian FILM. Not that those films didn't shock me, it's just that I have discovered that every extreme-film has its own unique way of twisting you. It might be a subtle attack on your violent impulses (a la Haneke's Funny Games) or something more unexpected (I really didn't anticipate the level of bloody brutality of INSIDE). With MBTS, it was a bit different. Here, I was already informed beforehand of the individual "stand-out" scenes. It turned out to be, informed or not, I was still sickened. It turned out to be that in the anticipating such scenes to happen, I could see the Chinese people in the film, innocent, unmindful, helpless, like lambs to be led to the slaughter. There could nothing be more disturbing than watching a Chinese kid in the movie happily playing not knowing that in the next scene he will be killed and systematically disemboweled.I know people will watch this for its gore content. It will suffice, but of course there will always be gorier films that this one. One thing I will say that is for sure is that if you're looking for a more intense and bleaker version of sugar-coated films like Schindler's list, this is the right movie for you. In the end, you'll feel so empty; you swear that your guts have been blown out of you via decompression chamber.In the end, it was an amazingly disturbing experience but it warrants a viewing thanks to its honest portrayal.

With a couple of exceptions, generally any film to do with war is guaranteed to bore the hell out of me. However, Men Behind the Sun is generally held in high regard by gore fans as one of the most sickening, disturbing and shocking films ever made; and it's that alone that made me want to see it. After the first twenty minutes or so, I was beginning to think I was in the wrong film as I was watching an extremely badly dubbed film about a bunch of young Japanese soldiers horsing around at a prisoner of war camp, and it didn't seem like it was going to turn into the shock-fest I was expecting. However, things soon start to turn around... The film is apparently a history lesson, and takes place in Japan towards the end of the Second World War. The plotting is very loose (anyone that has seen any of the Italian Nazi films will have an idea of what to expect) and really only focuses on a bunch of experiments carried out on prisoners of war at a Japanese prisoner of war camp.The whole atmosphere and style of the film is very grim and depressing; the camp itself is portrayed as an entirely hopeless environment, and that pays dividends once the film begins showing the most grisly and shocking scenes. The film is not wall to wall nastiness and the memorable scenes are few and far between; which is probably a good thing considering how strong the shocking scenes are! I counted six scenes in particular that are liable to shock viewers. Sequences that show women have their hands frozen and prisoners crucified in a bomb field are obviously special effects; but the compression chamber scene (which is very well shot) is rumoured to feature a real corpse, while the autopsy footage is apparently real also. It's the scenes of animal violence that I will remember for the longest, however; a scene that sees rats burned en mass and another that depicts a cat being eaten alive by rats are too realistic to be fake. Animal lovers should take note. I really can't say I enjoyed watching this film; I appreciate the way that it goes 'that extra mile' at times and I do think that all adults should have the opportunity to experience something like this if they choose to. However, while I enjoy a good gory film; I also watch films primarily for entertainment, and this one is just too grim to really be liked. Good enough for a single viewing if you think you can stomach it.