Hei tai yang 731 (Men Behind the Sun) (Squadron 731)

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Trevor T 06/28/2023 I actually don't know how to rate this film but the subject matter is so disturbing it needs to be seen. It concerns Unit 731 of the Japanese Army in Manchuria in the Second World War and the atrocities it committed. Not many people know about it but they need to. As a film it is upsetting and a times horrible. Don't look on this as a war film or a horror film but as a drama documentary. See more acsdoug D @acsdoug 05/04/2023 Japan's atrocities during World War II are not nearly as well known as Germany's. While the Germans have consistently acknowledged Nazi war crimes, the Japanese have often denied, downplayed and even justified their own. Chinese civilian casualty estimates run as high as fourteen million souls. It is important the stories be told. However, this is not a good production. All the sound has been recorded in a studio. While the atrocities shown are documented, the story takes a backseat to what feels like a series of sadistic vignettes reminiscent of "Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS." See more 01/22/2021 Please just don't watch it. If you watch it you'll need psychological help! See more 04/06/2018 Definitely a film which deserves more than its 'exploitation/video nasty' reputation. Remove the completely unneeded cat death scene (whether its real or not) and a couple other bits of 'gore porn' and you would have a film worthy of the respect and seriousness of something like Schindler's List. Alas, this is a film that can't decide if it wants to be horror or historical drama. Points for the hard hitting cinematography/eerie lack of soundtrack and acting (except for the campy scene where the woman has her arms de-skinned) points deducted for pointless animal death and reliance on shock value: ie- the real autopsy footage. See more delysid d 04/23/2017 Men Behind the Sun is a pretty bad one. Alot of times I think that the critics are wrong but this film really is awful. I did enjoy the sick torture scenes but they were honestly a bit graphic even for me and I'm a big horror fan. But mostly the reason I disliked it was the majority of the film is just about these dumb kids. However bad it was though, its still shocking to think that the story is not exactly fictional See more Wayne K 09/02/2015 Examining one of history's darkest chapters with one of its scantest movie budgets, Men Behind The Sun is often too horrible to fully concentrate on, and makes you question how much of it is actually real, which it often looks like it might be. Real cadavers were used, one scene contains live rats being incinerated and another features the arms of a corpse being frozen and smashed to pieces. If you can sit through that it's actually a pretty fascinating analysis of the 731 unit and the atrocities that happened there. It rightly shows the victims as innocents who were doomed to the worst of fates, but it doesn't fall into the trap of portraying their captors as unthinking, unfeeling barbarians. They are all shown to be following a cause they believe to be of benefit to their nation, and many of them clearly express concern and sympathy about what they're doing and who they're doing it to. It's not the easiest film to get through, but if you do it'll make you feel mighty grateful that these particular events are behind us. See more Read all reviews

Hei tai yang 731 (Men Behind the Sun) (Squadron 731)

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