Man Behind the Sun

Original title: Hei tai yang 731

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

7.6K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

4,608

648

Drama History Horror War

Japanese troops round up Chinese and Russian prisoners of war and take them to unit 731, where they're horribly tortured and experimented on to test new biological weapons.Japanese troops round up Chinese and Russian prisoners of war and take them to unit 731, where they're horribly tortured and experimented on to test new biological weapons.Japanese troops round up Chinese and Russian prisoners of war and take them to unit 731, where they're horribly tortured and experimented on to test new biological weapons.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

7.6K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

4,608

648

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Director Tun-Fei Mou paid a lot of attention to the film's historical accuracy and sought to create something that very earnestly captured his true-life source material doing years of research. He chose actors who purposely resembled Japanese people of the war era and even cast Korean kids living in China to play the Youth Corp as Mou thought Koreans most resembled Japanese kids of that era. Mou filmed the movie in Harbin, Manchuria where 731 was stationed. He used 731's real headquarters as a location, it was a school at the time of the shoot. When Mou took down the school's name and put the Japanese flag back, it horrified the local elderly who had lived through the war. One particularly upset old lady approached Mou and his crew and said "I knew they'd be back (the Japanese), I just hoped it wouldn't be this soon!"

Goofs
Surgeons cut the stomach of an alive boy without any bleeding.

Quotes
Dr. Shiro Ishii: A small rat can beat a cat. Fleas and germs can defeat bombers and guns. This is... the basic theory behind Squadron 731. It is also my philosophy.

Alternate versions
The UK version was cut by 2 minutes by the BBFC to remove a scene where a cat is thrown into a room full of live rats and then killed by them, and to edit shots of rats on fire. Despite the film's graphic violence it received no further BBFC cuts, possibly because the video was given a limited UK release and sold only through Chinese video stores.

Connections
Edited into Men Behind the Sun 3: A Narrow Escape (1994)

User reviews91

Review

Featured review

8/10

Dark Days

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