Philosophy of a Knife

I'm rarely moved to comment on movies and books because others have generally already expressed everything I have to say. No need to repeat.

However, this movie is so appallingly bad that it deserves every terrible review we can collectively muster.

As a documentary, it fails. Too many inaccuracies, too much left out, too many things left unexplained. The man whose interview answers are interspersed throughout was not directly involved in any of it and had nothing new to contribute. The narration, delivered in all its monotone glory, is insipid and adds no insight. Of course, despite purporting to convey a true story, it's not billed as a documentary so I suppose you could forgive the faults. But seriously, this is laughably inaccurate.

As a horror film, it fails. Mostly because it's too long by at least 2 hours, has no momentum and is, frankly, boring. Yes, the experimentation scenes are graphic. But there are only a handful of them – maybe one every 20 minutes? - so this can't even qualify as a gore fest. Besides, the effects are amateurish at best, and no self-respecting horror fan would be impressed. The infamous tooth-pulling scene is shockingly fake. There are numerous lengthy scenes of prisoners sitting around waiting – is Iskanov trying to create suspense? I have this bad habit of doggedly finishing a book or a movie I really don't like or actively loathe, just because I hate leaving something unfinished. I don't usually regret this because it's a conscious decision and I feel I have a better idea of the work as a whole if I actually finish watching or reading it. I regret wasting my time with this movie.

It was some of the most self-indulgent dreck I've ever come across. Iskanov's repetitive use of silent snow-falling-on-gray-building scenes were maddening. I started timing them, and they ranged from about 2 to 6 minutes, making them ideal for bathroom breaks, walking the dog or fixing a sandwich. If you wanted to skip over the Russian guy's interview scenes too, you'd have enough time for a solid power nap.

Actually, don't bother with it at all. Then you don't have to mess with fast forwarding and all that.

PHILOSOPHY OF A KNIFE is not a horror / splatter / gore film. It is not meant to be enjoyed, or viewed as entertainment. It's not meant as pure exploitation, either. KNIFE is a documentary of sorts, by Director Andrey Iskanov, about the notorious UNIT 731 and the inhuman experiments conducted there during WW II.

The horrific, insanely extreme sequences are reenactments, much like in any other documentary. The difference being, of course, that Iskanov recreates the atrocities in as viciously realistic detail as possible. He intends for us to go along with these prisoners / test subjects for every excruciatingly long second of their hideous deaths. We are supposed to experience every bit of the terror, anguish, and torture of this mindless experimentation. All without hope of reprieve or possibility of escape. We are there for the deadening monotony of systematic mass murder.

This, as Iskanov drives home, is a slaughterhouse for human beings. He wants witnesses present for one of the darkest, most heart-destroying times in history. He makes a convincing case that man is capable of anything.

Anything.

One of the more chilling aspects of the film is the voice-over narration by Manoush, portraying a nurse at UNIT 731. Her words make it absolutely clear that in order to play a part in acts such as these, she had to forfeit her very soul.

This movie contains ultra-graphic scenes of human vivisection, mutilation, and other horrors that only a true sadistic psychopath could "enjoy". Rating this ten stars because I "love it" would be absurd and insane. No, the rating is high because it does exactly what it sets out to do. It takes us to this inconceivably terrible place, and makes us not only watch, but feel what is happening there. It does this in spite of its many flaws and budgetary constraints.

Not all stories have happy endings -or beginnings or middles- and exist simply because someone believed they had to be told...

This movie is four hours long for one reason: director Andrey Iskanov wanted it to be. Lacking enough actual subject matter to warrant a four hour running time, he compensates by having virtually every scene go on for at least twice as long as necessary and inserting numerous shots of snow falling, each of which goes on for several minutes. I would say there's close to a half hour of footage of snow in this movie.

We get surgeons meticulously putting on rubber gloves, prisoners being led down hallways, soldiers trudging through snow, bodies being chopped up, flesh being scraped off a skull, and countless other such sequences all in glorious real time. If tedium and banality are what Iskanov was going for he succeeded admirably.

PHILOSOPHY OF A KNIFE is so devoid of any redeeming quality in its current state it barely even warrants discussion. One of the few positive things I can say about it is that I can see a riveting avant-garde horror movie hidden beneath all the baggage. Had he cut out 2/3 of the running time and tightened up all of his individual scenes, this could have been one of the most effective exercises in Hell-On-Earth sensory overload.

Of course, in an introduction which brings new meaning to the word "pontification," Iskanov informs us that this is not a horror movie, though he expects us unsophisticated westerners to think it is. So maybe I'm even wrong about that. Maybe there's NOTHING good to say about this movie.

Watching this movie has forced me to re-assess my opinion of MEN BEHIND THE SUN, which I thought was little more than an exploitive freak show as well. However, in MEN BEHIND THE SUN director T.F. Mou presented the atrocities in a brutally matter-of-fact manner and allowed us to sympathize somewhat with the prisoners. Now I'm thinking that Mou's film is at least somewhat earnest in its depictions of the horrors of Unit 731.

In PHILOSOPHY, Iskanov re-creates the experiments as highly stylized set-pieces that look more like a Nine Inch Nails music video than an attempt to hit home the true horror of these activities. All (and I mean ALL) the prisoners who are tortured are young, good-looking Russian kids with no backstory whatsoever. I wonder how many female prisoners-of-war during World War II had perfect breasts and shaved pubic hair. And while MEN BEHIND THE SUN acknowledged that Russian, European and American prisoners did fall victim to Unit 731, PHILOSOPHY completely ignores the fact that the vast majority of victims were Chinese.

And if what you want is nothing more than blood and guts, even that fails to live up to the hype. The effects (which Iskanov did himself) are amateurish and sloppy. Only a sequence in which a woman's teeth are pulled is even somewhat effective, not because it's well-done, but because pretty much everyone can imagine how much that would hurt. OLDBOY's teeth pulling scene is far more chilling and horrific than this.

This long, boring, dishonest, self-indulgent movie is a major waste of time. I want my four plus hours back.

Why is this 4 hours long? Could easily be edited down to 90 mnts

There are some interesting "historical" nuggets interwoven into endless B&W stills

Watch on fast forward if you must

I love Andrey Iskanov's other works such as Nails and Visions of Suffering and find Philosophy of a Knife along the same lines. While yes this movie is disturbing, graphic and based on real events I am amazed at the backlash the movie and Andrey have gotten.

Unlike other reviewers I knew what this movie was about going in. Yes there was a documentary aspect to it, part documentary and some historical footage which I thought helped connect the film as a whole, ramming it home even more that this was based on a true story. I am not sure what kind of movie others were expecting. Maybe they did not listen to the beginning interview or have not heard about Unit 731 before, or even seen Andrey's other works. I find the attack on actors and special effects ludicrous. How do you expect people to act in this scenario? Most of the special effects were very good in my opinion. There were some that could have been done better but that is the way it is and to me has no relevance to the movie as a whole. This movie was made in a certain style and is not your Hollywood pumped out generic horror crap or cookie cutter work. One reviewer even said it was a horrible movie because the actress had a Brazilian which apparently the character would not have at the time. Out of everything that is going on in that movie, the pain, cruelty, and deadening of humanity he focuses on that... I would go ahead and watch and listen to the quick interview at the beginning of the movie which answers all the questions other posters are missing. Yes it's not for everyone and for me its even hard to say I enjoyed it because it was very disturbing. My rant is over...