Man Behind the Sun (1988) User Reviews (90)

Unsettling but strangely uncompelling

[gillman11 · 7/10 · 24 August 2003]

SPOILER ALERT but theres not much to add to the points given away in other user comments.

First off, I can't imagine that the filmmaker's intentions were solely to gross out the audience or to provide us with some of the old titillating ultraviolence any more than Spielberg did with Schindlers List - I haven't read any of the comments on SL but I can't imagine any users have scored that for gore/sadism/effects.

I'm also completely ignorant of the true facts behind Unit 731 and the work done there but I'm completely willing to believe the user comments that the events in the film are an accurate reflection of what happened there.

The point? Its an extremely well made film, well shot, well acted, good effects (although whether some of them are actually effects appears to be debatable and theres no excuse for animal cruelty regardless of the point you are trying to make - you notice the cat didn't jump once so it was either real old or real drugged when they threw it in there).

I just think if the director was so angry surely he would have made some of the characters in the film three dimensional and sympathetic rather than purely cataloguing the atrocities committed at the camp.

The only vaguely sympathetic characters are the woman whose child is taken away on arrival at the camp (and she's really put through the wringer after that) and the mute boy whose sole purpose seems to be to introduce an element of doubt into one of the Japanese characters.

It sure isn't just an exploitation flick but there's something missing which prevents it from being the devastating emotional history lesson that it seems to want to be. Maybe I'm missing something culturally?

And as for the US harbouring war criminals - wow! who'd have thought. Next thing they'll be telling us that the US supports third world regimes and then declares war on them when they stop co-operating! "Those that forget the past are condemned to repeat it."

Strong movie first, gore scenes second

[Stooovie · 6/10 · 14 August 2002]

Please do not watch this movie only for its gory scenes. There aren ´t that many of them and you can see similar ones regularly on Reality TV and the likes. The film´s true driving force is strong acting, good script and the veil of foulness, for the story (and even the gore scenes) are based on true facts and documents. You will certainly be disturbed, but rather for the feeling that what you´re watching really happened. Definetly recommended. 7/10

Savage cinema

[SteveLakerLondon · 7/10 · 10 February 2006]

Men Behind the Sun deals with the torture of Chinese POWs by their Japanese captors: Air Squadron 731, at the latter's snow-bound concentration camp.

I've seen a lot of extreme cinema in my time: not because I'm a "gorehound" or am constantly seeking the "ultimate nasty" but because I want a film to affect me. I'm very much of the "it's just a film" school and it therefore takes a well-made, strong film in order to allow me to suspend my disbelief.

I've seen most of the so-called "nasties", including Cannibal Holocaust and some of the Guinea Pig series. I didn't find the latter terribly effective and Cannibal holocaust is a gut-munching gore fest in its uncut form but Men Behind the Sun completely eclipses it for sheer brutality.

What makes Men Behind the Sun so effective for me is the relative realism. Zombie movies don't disturb me simply because zombies are fantasy. To a lesser extent, so are cannibals. Both genres have "yuck" moments and on first viewing, Cannibal Holocaust shocked me slightly with its relentless gore. Men Behind the Sun is somehow more calculated.

Why am I making comparisons with Cannibal Holocaust? The majority of film viewers will be familiar with the so-called "video nasties" and will probably have seen some of them. Cannibal Holocaust is generally considered to be the strongest of the video nasties but Men Behind the Sun is in a different league, in my opinion. Men Behind the Sun is to Cannibal Holocaust as Cannibal Holocaust is to say, The Exorcist.

What makes Men Behind the Sun so effective is its realism: humans, not zombies, cannibals or monsters. It deals with what atrocities humans are capable of committing upon their own kind.

Guinea Pig: The Devil's Experiment is a similar study but it has all characterisation and plot stripped away, leaving just the torture. Because of this, there are no characters to engage or empathise with. Certain scenes are very graphic but without context and therefore not affecting.

Men Behind the Sun has characters and plot and most of the film is just that: a film. The torture and experiment scenes are intense sequences set within what is otherwise a normal film. And there lies the film's effectiveness: because it builds characters, we are drawn in. Because the film deals with real life, we are able to suspend our disbelief and become immersed in it.

The torture and experiment scenes in Men Behind the Sun are intense for their unstinting focus and graphic depiction of cruelty. They are disturbing but compelling; like looking at a car crash when you know you shouldn't. The imagery is so graphic and realistic that the scenes stay with you, long after viewing the film.

*** Possible spoilers ***

Even before the gory torture and experiment scenes, we witness utter inhumanity near the beginning of the film, as a mother is robbed of her baby. A Japanese officer simply takes the baby from the mother and tosses it into the snow. As the mother weeps, the officer muffles the baby's cries by kicking snow over it.

Later in the film, we see the mother tied to a wooden structure in the freezing outdoors. An officer approaches her, treading on her baby's body as he does so. Her already frost-bitten arms are doused in cold water several times, before she's taken inside. There, her arms are dipped in a solution of some kind and I shan't describe what follows. To do so would deny any potential viewer one of the biggest shocks of the film. Be prepared.

Continuing the frostbite theme, we see a Chinese man forced to place his arms into a dry ice container. They emerge frozen solid and are then hacked off by a Japanese soldier, breaking like china.

The infamous decompression chamber sequence is where the director is alleged to have used a real cadaver. I can't confirm or deny that but the scene is another shocking one: a Chinese man is placed inside the chamber and the pressure gradually reduced. Eventually, the pressure is so little that the man's colon falls out of his anus.

Another notorious scene is the live autopsy: a deaf, mute Chinese boy, whom the viewer grows to like, is tricked into lying on an operating trolley. There he is anaesthetised with ether before being dissected. Rumours abound that this scene also used a real cadaver but personally I doubt that. I am convinced from the camera cuts that this sequence is just very good special effects. Once done with the boy, the Japanese simply throw his crumpled body into a trailer before he's taken away for incineration: completely inhuman and affecting.

The sequence involving the cat is the one probably most often thought to be real. I can't be absolutely sure but I don't believe this to be the case. Rather, I believe that the cat could have been drugged and certainly think the blood to be fake. In any case, the cat being eaten alive by rats is a very disturbing scene.

*** End of spoilers ***

Overall, this is a strong piece of film-making, in every sense. The story is a worthy one and the unpleasant imagery serves to drive home the message that the film carries. These are not images that are easily erased from one's mind. This film certainly affected me.

I would recommend this film as advised viewing. I wouldn't say to anyone, "If you want to see something really nasty...", or "You have to see this film because it's really gory." Rather, I would advise watching it, with caution and preparedness for what lies within, as a good, powerful film.

This film will stay with me for a long time: savage, powerful and unforgettable

One of those movies that you definitely only need to see once.

[Rusty-61 · 9 May 2001]

There's only a handful of movies I can say that about- Threads and Funny Games are the other ones I can think of off the top of my head. If you've seen a lot of disturbing movies, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You'll get the idea after one viewing, and you won't be able to wipe some of the images out of your head, or still have nightmares about them, even years later anyway.

I heard about this movie in the 80's, when I went out of my way to see every movie or video I could that was supposed to be shocking, disturbing, or really sick. Actually, I still do that, though these days I do try to read about it first, to make sure it is worth spending my money on. So that probably means I need some sort of therapy, but that's beside the point. Many of my favorite horror authors had brought up the movie when asked about the most upsetting movies they'd seen, and someone I talked to who had seen it just shook their head grimly when I asked them about it. I looked everywhere for this movie but couldn't find it. Years after I'd given up I found a bootleg copy from the laser-disc. This was after I'd seen Peter Jackson's "Braindead" uncut at a film festival, and pretty much decided I'd seen it all and couldn't be shocked anymore.

This movie is evidently based on real-life events during WWII, about a medical camp referred only to as "Camp 731" where the Japanese perform really nasty and unusually creative medical experiments on the Chinese prisoners. This includes women, children, and, in the one scene you couldn't pay me enough to watch because it was rumored to be real and I didn't want to even see a fake depiction of it, a cat. I'd heard that it made Ilsa's SS Camp look like a day at the beach. Well, I don't know about that, but this is definitely one of the most disturbing and depressing movies I've ever seen- as the guy I bought it from said, "Guaranteed to ruin your day". Fortunately, my day was already pretty much ruined, as I was home sick with the flu and feeling wretched the day I watched it. I probably would have been able to fall asleep way earlier if I hadn't watched it, though.

This is definitely not an enjoyable movie, or fun to sit through. Any Italian cannibal movie I can think of is more upbeat than this. Even if you were one of the people who thought the un-cut Ilsa was 'campy' and 'fun', I don't think you'll be too cheerful during this.

I'd actually heard about what were supposed to be the most upsetting scenes, like the poor man in the decompression experiment that sort of implodes in a horrible way that I think is safe to say has never been filmed before or since, when all the air is sucked out of the room, and the very graphic autopsy of the one character in the movie that the filmmakers go out of their way to make sure you care about. Man, that was cold-blooded, but I was expecting that. There's one experiment, though, I think it was called the "frostbite experiment" (most of the experiments are preceded by a title card, which gives the movie an even more cold-blooded, documentary feel) that caught me totally off-guard. I don't want to "spoil" it if you're really into getting caught off guard, but it was one of the rare times I was so shocked when watching a movie I actually gasped and cursed out loud when I was watching something by myself. It takes a lot to shock me, but whenever I'm talking with someone about scenes in movies that really disturbed us, this is one of the first ones I think of. It's been over 5 years since I saw that scene but I still remember it waaay too vividly. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) some of the newer DVDs I've seen for sale give it away in the cover art, so don't look too closely at the box before you watch it (unless you want to know what you're getting yourself into before you rent it). I've got to hand it to whoever thought up that one, because I did NOT see it coming.

If you're into non-stop over-the-top gore, then you might get bored during parts of this. The filmmakers spend some time making you feel sorry for the characters in other ways. This film is well-made, well-acted, has very realistic (way too realistic) gore, and nothing is ever played for laughs - it's not a low-budget splatter movie.The entire movie is just completely depressing, downbeat, and disturbing to the very last frame, and I really only recommend it to people I know who are pretty jaded and don't mind really disturbing, upsetting movies, or those (like me, I hate to admit) that want to say they've seen it all. You also might want to recommend it to any smug people you know that brag about how nothing makes them sick.

Some people just can't handle the truth

[KineticSeoul · 7/10 · 14 October 2010]

If you think what the Nazi's did to Jews was some terrible stuff. That has nothing on what the japs did to other Asians, the true and horrifying things they did is terrible to the point it's unforgivable. This film doesn't try to bash on modern japan, but accurately portrays the war crimes they have committed. Some criticize this of being a exploitation film, I have no idea why since it accurately shows the experiments the japs did to other human being during WW2. The japs went bonkers when this film first came out and some still do, which is just idiotic since they are throwing a hissy fit for showing the truth. People are literally treated worse than animals in this and it's very graphic, also painful to watch. Yeah it does have animal cruelty in this which led some viewers to throw a hissy fit. I wonder why, since nobody cares when they see human being getting killed on screen, even when it's real. But when it comes to animals it's like a whole another story for them. Anyways this is a difficult film to watch all the way through since it really is genuinely disturbing, so watch with caution.

7.3/10

It's hard to review a film like this one.....

[LoneWolfAndCub · 7/10 · 14 January 2008]

because it's one of those films which takes a long time to think about. I've put off writing about this for some time but I do want to write about it. Not only is it one of the most disturbing, depressing and disgusting films I have ever seen, it is also extremely powerful and surprisingly well-made. The director goes to many lengths to make this more than an exploitation film, but at points it can't escape being an exploitation. T.F. Mous (director) gives this a documentary feel as he (loosely) chronicles the true events that occurred during World War II at Squadron 731, a Japanese experiment facility where they tested biological weapons on Chinese and Russian prisoners of war.

Before watching this movie I had heard and read countless reviews about how disgusting and vile the movie is. I had heard plenty about the violence and gore and how bad it was. Having seeing countless exploitation and splatter movies before I honestly didn't know what to expect considering this was meant to be one of the worst. This movie is much more than gore, though, it is a brutal re-telling of some of the worst war crimes committed. The acts of torture and murder are all spaced throughout the movie because in between T.F. Mous tries to develop the story and characters. He goes into some detail about the Youth Corps and their training, he tries to flesh out some of the young ones and the commanding officers and even some of the prisoners. It shows he is more than just a director trying to create a shlocky horror movie, but someone who wants to tell an accurate account of the atrocities humans can commit so easily.

That is not to say the gore is weak, all of it is realistic (too realistic) and disturbing. Just the thought of some of it makes me feel sick and cringe. It's enough to turn most people off food for awhile. However, one of those instances of gore put me off enough to deduct 3 marks off the movie. The use of real animals in two scenes completely disgusted me. I have always stood by my opinion that real animals should never be killed for the purpose of a film and in this case it is no exception. Aside from that it is one of those movies you must see before you die, only once, however.

3½/5

Savage sadism and torture to depict a supposed 'history lesson'

[The_Void · 6/10 · 10 March 2009]

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.

Truly terrifying

[sekizuri · 5/10 · 11 November 2010]

Many of you who's found your way to this page on IMDb, probably already know pretty much what you're getting yourself into. It's terrible, horrifying, sickening, disgusting yet well-made, well- acted and well-directed. It's truly a unique movie, and I can appreciate all the things it does oh so right. If you're looking for something that can show you the ugly side of war or human beings, then you've found it - this is the real deal, and makes Schindler's List look like a day at the theme park in comparison.

But I gotta say, that this is too much. While everything that's being showed doesn't feel out of place or bad in any way, this is not why I go watch movies - it made me depressed and made me feel HORRIBLY bad after I watched it. While the truth of war and reality of things can work in movies, it doesn't work here - it goes beyond whatever we call entertainment or even film, and becomes a document of the most disgusting events you can imagine. If you're a moviegoer like me who appreciates good movies and well done ones, I can't recommend this to you.

If you're just looking for something shocking and grossed out, well, this is probably for you. But damn man, I'm telling you, be READY for what to come. I expected it to affect me, but not this much. It's not so much the events that makes the film horrible - which many reviewers makes it look like - but the overall feeling of authenticity and complete darkness and depression. If this film wouldn't be so damn well-made it'd probably just be another forgotten world war 2-movie.

I've been trying my limits for a long time now, seeing "the worst there is to see" and never really being content or felt that my limit was reached. Well, now it is, and I've frankly had enough. Seeing blood and guts are fine compared to the truly depressed and sickening feeling I had after watching this.

To sum the movie review up: After I saw it I couldn't eat for a week. If that's something you're looking for, then you'll be one pleased movie-goer, but if you're like me and still value the little peace you have in your body, then stay away.

Dark Days

[ElijahCSkuggs · 8/10 · 13 December 2006]

Going into Men Behind the Sun I knew that it was a serious movie that contained animal cruelty and just some seriously graphic material. And the rumors were true. It contained both. But I wasn't expecting a seriously well-made movie.

Men Behind the Sun centers around Squadron 731 and how it tortured and killed thousands and thousands of people so Japan would have a great chance at winning the war with Russia. Really the movie is almost entirely about how Squadron 731 can improve their chance to win the war. Be it through torture type situations like extreme temperature or through air-borne bacteria. It's been said that while Squadron 731 was up and running, it's said that there wasn't a single survivor. It's not just an hour and forty-five minutes of death and torture, even though it is close. The movie follows a large cast, whether they show the Generals and troops talking about how important this is to Japan or they show the victims and how they need to tell the world what is happening. It's an incredibly strong look at some of the darkest days this world has ever seen. Many a country have committed awful acts, and I suppose this is Japan's. Even though I hear Japan hasn't officially said it took place.

Like I said before, Men Behind the Sun is a strong, powerful and graphic film filled with visuals the average film-goer would rather not see. Truthfully, there's a couple scenes I'd rather have not have seen. There's another comment on here that says "One Viewing Is Enough" and I can't agree more. The only people I would recommend this movie to are history/movie/gore buffs. 8.5 outta 10

A Brisk Cold & Depraved DocuHorror Based On Real Atrocities

[afrodome · 7/10 · 15 August 2017]

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.

Simply too disturbing

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 28 January 2021]

A really nasty 'atrocity' film from Hong Kong, looking at Japanese biological experiments on the Chinese during WW2 and the infamous Unit 731 in particular. It's a low budget film but quite expansive in tone, giving a good picture of the international backdrop to the events portrayed, but the emphasis is very much on the blood and gore taking place at the facility and even the characters come second to that. It's an ultra disturbing film, one of the most disturbing I've ever seen, up there with the likes of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST in terms of on-screen content; it doesn't help that some of the corpses shown were real and one moment of animal violence is particularly queasy. Sure, I get that the director wanted to tell the truth and make this as realistic as possible...but only strong stomachs need apply here.

The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore

[Coventry · 9/10 · 30 July 2006]

Pretty much everything they say about this movie is true... It's sick, unnameable cruel and shocking, but also unforgettable and quite impressive. "Men Behind the Sun" is not just another wannabe-controversial Asian horror movie, but a devastatingly graphic and accurate history lesson that mostly became controversial due to a handful of notorious scenes. The events take place during the final months of WWII in a Japanese prisoners' camp. The Japanese, allied with the Germans, are slowly but surely losing the War and one General and a couple scientists believe it's up to them to turn the tide by experimenting with bacterial weapons and recruiting young boys to fight for their country. In the middle of their heavy training schedule, these boys are forced to witness some of the most inhumanly sadistic and repulsive experiments ever. The victims are ordinary Chinese and Russian citizens - men as well as women and newborn children - that were captured during battle & held prisoner in lamentable conditions. I'm really not going to debate how "real" the footage of these experiments is (the human cadavers are believed to be real and also the animals-sequences look suspiciously real), so I'll just confirm they're highly disturbing and, in case you're just a little squeamish, stay as far away from this movie as you can! Nevertheless, "Men Behind the Sun" remains one of the absolute greatest Asian shock-productions ever! The acting performances are really convincing, T. F. Mous' directing is solid & professional and the locations and scenery appear to be genuine. The emotions you experience whilst watching this movie are almost indescribable. How are you supposed to behave when observing the detailed autopsy of a defenseless little child? Not even to mention the utterly gruesome experiment in the decompression chamber? Does this make you a sick voyeur yourself or is it actually necessary to see this in order to acknowledge the factual horrors of war and reassure yourself that this may never happen again? Any movie able to provoke these kind of thoughts in your head is a milestone of cinema and nothing short of a masterpiece.

History Never Repeats...

[jmbwithcats · 6/10 · 19 September 2005]

"History Never Repeats... I tell myself before I goto sleep." - Split Enz

By 1945, the Japanese forces were suffering losses on the battle front. To win the war by biological warfare, the military Headquarters reinstated a Lt. General to be the Squadron commander. Yet this person had previously been relieved off this post because of corruption. This man, the inventor of the Ishit Water Purifier. A medical doctor, Lt. Ishii Shiro. A group of young soldiers were sent to Harbin to provide new blood for this squadron. The banks of Song Hua River...

Perhaps the most honest look at war I have ever witnessed, Men Behind the Sun does not spare us or grant us comfort lies, there are no masks, no pretty patriotic ideals to hide behind, only the fact of war and what man can become when the lines of morality and survival become blurred.

The Philosophy of the cat goes something like this:

"A smart rat can beat a cat. Fleas and germs can defeat bombers and guns too! This is...my theory behind 731 Squadron. It is also my philosophy. For victory, we shall groom the strongest and nurture them, the same applies for the Youth Corps." - Lt. Ishii Shiro, Men Behind the Sun

Once Nagasaki was bombed, it proclaimed the end of the war, and the unit was destroyed, all data burned. Years spent experimenting in atrocities for data that was worthless to mankind, and incinerated in fire.

Suicide pills were handed out to man, woman, and child if it came down to possible capture as retreat was inevitable.

When I watched this movie I could not deny that these atrocities occurred. If you go into this movie looking for realistic gore you're missing the point of the movie. A movie is made to teach us something, about humanity, or the lack thereof, in the desperate struggle to understand, and survive, and the lengths some will go to to that end.

Men Behind the Sun as a film had some charismatic characters, in a environment I cannot begin to understand or nightmare to ever experience.

One can only appreciate how good we have it, and feel great sorrow in the face of what war does to mankind's morality.

Men Behind the Sun is well made in nearly every respect, and though difficult to swallow at times one may wonder what it means the imagery of the men behind the sun...

The sun of the Japanese flag and the powers that be, or Men wielding cruel power in the faceless mask of the infinite... the cast shadow from this sun is our own fear and only in facing this fear can we assure, that history does never repeat.

Little boy carries his dreams and gun Child drops a ball to the stone cold ground Fire envelops the men behind the sun When history repeats it will make no sound.

Woman is the sun that has been forgot In the quest for power man has sought Ceaseless sorrow without end To learn or begin all over again

• Jonathan M Berman Sep 19 2005 Dedicated to those who have lost their lives in WW II

Very ordinary, despite the "hype"

[mattrochman · 2/10 · 12 June 2006]

I always find it amazing how some people profess to find some sort of deep or artistic merit in controversial films like this when, in the end, they are rather pathetic in every regard (much like Baise Moi).

I had heard that this film had some rather gruesome scenes and generally I concur. This does show some war time atrocities by way of so-called "medical" experiments. The problem is that all this has no context. The main point the doctors and leaders of the experimental center seem to go on and on about is that they are working on biological weapons to defeat the enemy on the front line. Bubonic Plague I believe, but a rather nasty variant. Then we are shown scenes where a mother and daughter are murdered before the various observers with poisonous gas (connection to biological weapon?). Then we have a "subject" whose hands are snap frozen... then they use a metal rod to shatter off his frozen fingers (connection to biological weapon?). We also have prisoners tied to posts and then dynamite is exploded near them. This results in arms, legs and fingers being blown off (connection to biological weapon?). In other words, gross-out for the sheer sake of it!

A cat is eaten by rats to make the point that "even rats can overcome a cat"!!!!??? A drunk scientist throws a porcelain container in the air, it hits the roof, shatters and everyone is covered by fragments of porcelain. From this "experiment" they hail him as a genius and begin working on a "pocelain bomb." We never learn how this bomb works, we just keeping hearing references to the porcelain bomb. What on earth is this mindless crap, you may ask? Well.... that's what I'm still trying to work out.

It was dull, stupid and graphic. There is nothing worthy of praise and I wouldn't lose sleep if you haven't seen it!

don't believe the sequel hype

[ma_teng · 19 April 2003]

Man Behind the Sun is a worthy film, and readily smeared through its association with a number of schlock "sequels".

Given that most reviewers here can't read Chinese and are measuring the film by its disgust factor, it's easy to see why "Godfrey Ho" is wrongly credited with directing it, instead of just "parts" 2 and 3. The actual director, Mou Tun-fei (aka T.F. Mous) is alive and well and living in Taiwan at last report. He is also a committed Chinese nationalist, which helps to explain the genuine, almost uncontrollable anger in this film.

The "sequels" on the other hand are money-spinners. Anyone who has seen the original should know there was no scope for a sequel set in a camp that had already been destroyed at the conclusion of WWII. At best, "part" 2 is a remake, and a cheap, shabby one at that.

The film is also careful to note significant historical elements, such as how the US government protected some of the criminals portrayed in this film, partly in order to get hold of the scientific data produced at the expense of the lives of thousands of Chinese civilians. If you read books on the matter you will also discover that the vast majority of Japanese scientists implicated in these experiments went on to enjoy successful careers in Japanese universities.

There was no Simon Wiesenthal to chase up and prosecute these individuals, despite their conspicuous presence under a lengthy US administration, and to this day the two governments prefer not to talk about this particularly vile component of Japan's wartime legacy. "Stuff happens," eh Mr Rumsfeld?

interesting and disturbing

[Snoboa755 · 6/10 · 17 August 2012]

i am fascinated by disturbing films but too often i am disappointed with films that claim to be such. men behind the sun at first had me a bit skeptic due to the horrible voice overs however that is a minor attribute to the film so i went on with watching it. i was surprisingly satisfied with what i encountered. though it is not as realistically gory as i expected, it definitely is disturbing. whats even more disturbing is the fact that it is based on true events, events which took place at unit 731 in pingfang china in 1935-1945, here experiments which were depicted in men behind the sun took place. i read an interview with the director and he claims that the experiments that actually took place in unit 731 were far worse than what he depicted in the film. if you enjoy gory and disturbing films such as salo or cannibal holocaust then you will definitely enjoy men behind the sun. i was a little shaken up with the cat scene, i always feel that exploiting animals is not justifiable for the sake of any art form (cannibal holocaust disappointed me greatly due to the multiple real animal killings), however it turns out the scene with the cat was not real and that relieves me :) though it is in fact not real the scene is still very gory and disturbing nonetheless. the autopsy scene is also very memorable and unpleasant perhaps because it is a real autopsy, the director claims they were able to obtain a young boys corpse because a young boy had died at a local hospital, (i find this a bit weird seeing as the body which is undergoing the autopsy seems to be an adult rather than a young buy, however i got this information from the interview i read with the director so i took it as truth). another scene which is pretty horrific is the scene where rats are set on fire while still alive. the birds eye view camera angle makes this scene look pretty awesome because the rats appear to be balls of fire just running frantically on the street and again i do not condone this but it is all part of the horrors behind this film. in short if you want to be disturbed and have upsetting images in your head this is the movie for you. enjoy

Shadow on the sun

[madqueen007 · 7/10 · 23 September 2011]

T.F. Mou's Black Sun: 731 (Man Behind the Sun) is the rarest of the rare, a film that is horrifying in its portrayal of inhumanity and still manages to document a period in history rarely acknowledged in the western world.

Black Sun: 731 is an important film. It documents the atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army Medical Corps against the Chinese and Russian prisoners of war taken in the Sino-Japanese war.

It's all true.

Mau's original intention was to create a documentary of the activities at Unit 731 but it is believed that no film from that time in history still remains. If any does it is locked in the deepest depths of a Japanese medical school vault, or in a military installation. Therefore Mau was obliged to bring this story to the screen in docudrama format. That is, fictional stories based around real events where the main idea of the film is the events that frame the story used to move the viewer along to a conclusion. This was popularised with, surprisingly enough, an American made-for-television movie named "Holocaust" that chronicled the Nazi extermination of European Jews during the Second World War.

Mau tells three separate yet important stories in this film. The first concerns the return to power of General Shiro Ishii, the leader of Unit 731 and inventor of the Ishii Battlefield Water Purification Pump (I am not sure the name is correct) following a charge of corruption filed by one of his staff members. The second concerns the coming-of-age of several Japanese Youth Corps members who arrive at Unit 731 at the beginning of the film. The third story follows the attempts of three prisoners to get information about the Japanese act ivies out of the camp.

The acting is uniformly excellent.

All three stories are effectively framed by the closing months of the Second World War as more and more pressure is put on the camp to develop bacteriological weapons for use against the Americans and Russians.

Again, since this film is a docudrama the stories are less important than the frame of the movie, and the frame of the movie is bacteriological (and other medical) experiments performed on prisoners of war, and in some cases, innocent civilians.

Very unsettling

[DonKowalski · 7/10 · 29 November 2011]

I'm probably not the only one who did some research on the subject after watching "Men behind the Sun". It's hard to imagine, that the events displayed are actually true. They are however.

The movie shows the unspeakable atrocities done to the Chinese people during the Japanese occupation from 1937-1945. In this particular case it's a Japanese military facility for testing and producing chemical and biological weapons. It is far more extreme than "Schindlers List" in terms of explicit illustration. Nothing you see is "fake". The director worked with real body parts and corpses, which is very controversial. Some very graphic scenes with living animals will not find approval among the audience as well.

It is a very angry attempt to confront Japan with its history, that is still being denied in large parts. The movie is neither superbly shot nor are the characters overly vivid. The honest and raging accusation however is present at all times and really keeps you hooked to the screen.

I watched the original 105 min uncut version in mandarin with subtitles. I'd recommend the movie to everyone who has interest in this part of history and a strong stomach. I wouldn't ever show it to a class in school though.

Disgusting trash

[DjMico · 1/10 · 15 December 2004]

How people can praise or say anything positive about a film that features the actual autopsy of a child cadaver, is really upsetting to me. The parents of the little boy approved the filmmakers to use the body of their dead son as a "special effect" in this sick piece of vile vomit. I hope they were payed well, because if I met them in the street, I would spit at them.

"Men Behind the Sun" is not a film, it's an endurance test. And a dull one, at best. If you watch the movie and actually like it for its artistic qualities, then you're in dire need of a psych evaluation. The only reason people still talk about this garbage is the shock value. Intestines shooting out of rectums and cats being eaten by rats are a few of the tasty bits in this bland stew.

Atrocious horror for fans of animal abuse and snuff documentaries.

Think you've seen it all? Try this one for size!

[BA_Harrison · 8/10 · 7 October 2007]

Watch Man Behind the Sun expecting something along the lines of a Chinese Ilsa movie and you might be in for a surprise: this film has none of the camp qualities to be found in most POW exploitation—it's pure cinematic harshness from start to finish with not a buxom leather-booted commandant in sight.

Set at the end of WWII, director T. F. Mous' harrowing tale centres on Camp 731, a medical centre where the Japanese attempt to perfect bacterial weapons, using Chinese prisoners as guinea pigs in their nasty experiments. Mous' objective is to reveal to the world how his people suffered at the hands of their enemy, and in this he totally succeeds; the atrocities that are depicted in Man Behind The Sun are completely sickening and disgustingly convincing.

From the moment that a woman's baby is smothered in snow by a soldier, to the depressing, downbeat finalé in which the camp is razed to the ground by a retreating Japanese army (after shooting and burning all prisoners), this unflinching portrayal of man's inhumanity to man is a total gut-wrencher and certainly not recommended viewing for the easily offended.

In this film, people are treated worse than animals and the 'experiments' they have to endure are shown in every nauseatingly graphic detail: a woman has her arms frozen and then dunked in hot water, allowing the flesh to be easily ripped from her bones; a prisoner is placed in a decompression chamber resulting in his intestines erupting from his body (a scene rumoured to use a real body, but which, according to the director, was actually achieved using special effects); a boy is tricked into being the subject of a live 'autopsy' (cast-iron stomach necessary for this bit—real autopsy footage was shot for this scene!!); and a group of prisoners are 'crucified' in a field and used for target practice by Japanese bombers.

On top of all this there are also two moments of animal cruelty that will have pet-lovers up in arms: a cat is thrown to hungry rats and is eaten alive (not sure if this was done with FX or not, but the cat doesn't look too thrilled), and a load of rats are also set on fire (now this is definitely real!!).

As you have probably gathered, Man Behind The Sun is hard going and should be watched with caution. However, it is a well made film that does what it set out do do—educate viewers about the horrors of war. It's a hard one to rate, because it is such a gruelling movie and can't really be described as entertaining, but I'll give it 8/10 for being so genuinely disturbing.

Bad aftertaste

[ospam · 7/10 · 1 April 2002]

Before watching the film i´ve heard many gruesome things about this movie. Automatically you are developing a high expectation attitude in the often recommended gore scenes. Most watchers gave high points concerning the gore and splatter effects. OK they are almost very authentically, but for e.g. the scene with the young boy, which internal organs to be taken is the pathologists daily routine. The cats scene loses at terribleness, if you can give faith to the words of the director in its interview. The only criticism point which could annoy the "society for the prevention of cruelty to animals", are the pictures with the burning rats. I think they are real. But that is an additional cinematic printout to underline the panic of the soldiers during the destruction of evidence. The cruelty to animals are at a higher senseless point in the old "Lassie", "Flipper" or "Daktari" series. No, folks: which lets the film keep lastingly in the head, is the "quiet" brutality, the matter of course of the pictures, the brute speaking (there is one scene, in which one of the leaders is badly confronted with the Camp Commander, because he shot a majority of the prisoners while fleeing instead of catching them alive. He actually did thereby a large favour to them. They would have been killed anyway, but under other circumstances). The actors are actually quite good, especially the Camp Commander could quite act in a Chacky Chan movie. Sometimes the film has also "feeling" (at the end: live is taken (Dead) and given (Birth) in one second). But the dark parts predominate and its no film to watch for fun. The film stays in head, but rather by the certainty that these cruelties really occurred, than the gore. And the certainty to determine, to which humans are able. Hitler, Stalin, Milosevic and friends were not the only butchers.

Dated, and fails between a horror film and a documentary

[TheLoveBandit · 5/10 · 5 December 2017]

All I know of Unit 731 is from reading the wiki page, but that gave me a good understanding of what was done and why. This film provides a thin story following some of the key characters in the real events, and is obviously structured to reveal some of the experiments done at that time. However, the story itself doesn't leave you sympathetic to the characters much - perhaps that is intentional, as the Japanese who did this weren't meant to be sympathized with from the director's view perhaps.

I am a gore fan, and I was looking for more historical insight than the wiki provided. With this film we have to start by accepting it was made in 1988, in a time and place without much special effects and still following a lot of Shaw Brother kung fu theater type films. So the quality is 'dated' to be kind. I appreciate the director's intent and attempt, but in this day and age it falls short. The gore is more than most of it's time, but simply looks cheesy 1980's now. The historical aspects appear true enough, but 20 minutes reading the wiki page will give you a LOT more. So I ended up feeling short on gore and history by the film. Had I seen it within a few years of it being made, I may have a different take. Seeing it now, 'meh' not worth your time, tbh.

Absolutely disturbing and devastating film.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 10/10 · 17 February 2004]

T.F.Mous' 1987 film "Man Behind the Sun" has to be one of the most disturbing and unpleasant movies ever made.It tells us about the atrocities committed by Japanese scientist during the Second World War in China.The acting is pretty good and I think that some of the actors did an outstanding job.The film offers also some of the most revolting gore I have ever seen.Some scenes are truly sickening for example a man is put into decompression chamber and the pressure is steadily increased until he shoots intestines out of his anus-actually Mous used a real corpse to make this scene.There is also incredibly graphic autopsy of a young mute boy-a real cadaver was used for this sequence as well.The scene where a real cat is attacked and consumed by literally thousands of starving rats is incredibly vile and unnecessary.Overall,"Man Behind the Sun" is pretty hard to find,but if you liked "Cannibal Holocaust" or "Bunman:The Untold Story",then give it a look.However fans of cute American horror should avoid it like the plague!

A Mixed bag........

[Edible Fetus · 6/10 · 10 November 2002]

Well, I waited a long time to see this, and despite criticism of it being overly boring, I found it to be tolerable in most respects.

As far as it never being released in the US, the copy I own was released by Dead Alive Productions, which is a US distribution.

The main element that keeps this one from boring me to sleep is the hilarious over-dubs. Seeing the japanese mouths move, while strangely american voices are heard never gets tiresome. It maintains tempo because of this comedic value felt throughout. The direction and style felt very trashy like an ILSA style of exploitation. The acting was entertaining and believable while over the top.

On to the gore..... this being my main reason for watching, and likely the primary interest for most viewers. Well, i have to say that while the bloodshed was not consistent throughout, the scenes of violence in this movie are so painfully realistic and brutally horrific that even a hardened gore-hound like me was kept flinching through some of the disembowelings and GAG**supremo cat dismemberment by 1000 rabid rats. Yeah, theres no denying that the graphic content in this one dances circles around most lame US releases. I sure felt that some of this could not be fake, but you will have to decide for yourself....

I paid $8 US for this, and it was worth it. I would recomend paying between $5-10 to own, and if renting make sure to dub a copy. If this doesn't elicit gags from your girlfriend, nothing will.

Did I really just watch the same film as everyone else?!?

[dragonmaster0303 · 5/10 · 5 February 2006]

Maybe it was the fact that I watched the dubbed version (I had no choice as for some reason the subtitles didn't work), which for the first half hour or so was so campy that if the accents hadn't been American I would've swore I was watching a Carry On film! It really was that funny in a slapstick kind of way.

Now I've had this DVD for quite some time and having read all the reviews and expected the worst, plus generally with this type of movie I'm never in a great hurry to watch them anyway, I'd waited until I was in the right frame of mind. So I waited. And waited. And then I watched it. Oh, the disappointment! Is this all a huge joke? I wonder.

As for realism, all I can say is that I implore none of you who think this movie is realistic to never, EVER go near the second in the Guinea Pig series, because quite frankly, you'd probably die. Seriously. You'd die.

Now to the actual tortures/deaths… First off the baby in the snow, that was just so corny it was funny! And the two arm freezing incidents were hilariously badly done, umm, realistic? I think not! Funny? Incredibly!

The live autopsy on the boy was poorly done, although the gore looked fairly real, the fact that the boy's skin colour was completely different to that of the body being dissected ruined it completely, especially as the editing meant we kept switching between his head and shoulders and then the lower part of his body. I'd have expected skin colour would've been a high priority when making a realistic fake body, but then that's just me.

Now the piece de resistance – the man whose intestines were forced to shoot out of his bottom at high velocity! Yes, even though it was well done and somewhat disgusting, it really is as funny as it sounds! I laughed out loud on seeing this part, but then admittedly did feel slightly ashamed because it was so sick. I guess it's similar to laughing at people with Tourettes; you know it's wrong, but you just can't help it because it's so damn funny!

Add to all of this the cheerfully dancing man who disposes of the bodies, whiskey bottle always in hand, and again; it is more comedy than horror.

For the record, in my opinion the infamous cat scene, although quite well done, is faked. You can clearly see the rats nibbling at the red syrup that's been poured on the (probably drugged) cat which barely struggles but its eyes give the game away, while being nowhere near its skin. It's not unusual for a person connected with this type of thing to claim parts are real simply for hype and that's all this cat business is.

The burning rats scene however is completely real, but then no one cares about rats, right? lol

I do appreciate that the fact these things (probably) happened is a very scary and horrific thought, but I'm sorry, that doesn't necessarily make a scary and horrific film. I definitely laughed more than I was sickened or horrified, but then maybe this is one of those times when you actually had to be there (for real!).