IMDb RATING
6.1/10
7.9K
YOUR RATING
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.
Zhaohua Mei
- Takamura
- (as Zhao Hua Mei)
Runshen Wang
- Camp Lieutenant
- (as Run Shen Wang)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
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
"Men Behind The Sun" belongs to a totally different category than "Cannibal Holocaust," to which everyone seems to measure up this movie. I haven't seen its other installments, but this first "Men Behind The Sun" is a genuine historical drama with a strong documentary feel, and the notorius torture/experiments scenes only emphasize the film's brooding purpose. Hell, I will go as far as to say that this has far more in common with "Schindler's List" than with the horror genre. Purely in terms of "disgust" aspect, I guess it doesn't surpass "Cannibal Holocaust," but because this movie deals with the actual historical events, it actually turned out to be way more disturbing, despite the "fake documentary" style used in "Cannibal Holocaust." This movie is not a video nasty despite its brutal content. This is very strong and disturbing stuff, but it should be seen.
This is one of THE most disturbing movies I've seen. The thing that disturbed me the most was that it was based on the events of Squadron 731. The human testing in the movie was well done and pretty realistic. Some scenes were campy, while others made you wanna get up and vomit. The most disgusting to me was the cat thrown in a room of thousands of hungry rats. The rats tore the cat apart, and it was with real a real cat and real rats! No effects! Nonetheless, it was a good movie with a good story. Definitely don't plan to watch this movie with the family (or the cat) after Sunday dinner.
I saw this for the first time recently n got disturbed badly.
I cudnt sleep or do my workout.
This movie is not supposed to be enjoyed nor shud be viewed for entertainment values. It shud be only seen for sheer enlightening.
The autopsy of an alive child made me lose hope in humanity. The gruesome experiment in the decompression chamber took away my sleep n appetite.
The most shocking aspect is why wud anyone protect a monster like Shiro Ishii. For scientific data?
This movie is not supposed to be enjoyed nor shud be viewed for entertainment values. It shud be only seen for sheer enlightening.
The autopsy of an alive child made me lose hope in humanity. The gruesome experiment in the decompression chamber took away my sleep n appetite.
The most shocking aspect is why wud anyone protect a monster like Shiro Ishii. For scientific data?
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
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
Did you know
- TriviaDirector 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!"
- GoofsSurgeons 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 versionsThe 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.
- ConnectionsEdited into Men Behind the Sun 3: A Narrow Escape (1994)
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- Hei tai yang 731
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