The 1988 Hong Kong-Chinese film, "Men Behind the Sun" is the first film to ever receive a "III" rating in Hong Kong. The "III" rating in Hong Kong is equivalent to the NC-17 rating in the United States. However, audiences abroad are usually not as sensitive to on-screen depictions of gruesome violence as western audiences. So the fact that this film shocked the conscience of its host country to this extent should discourage most from watching the film. It is not an easy movie to watch. The violence and gruesome content will make most viewers sick. But such a film is necessary. Because, compared to German atrocities, the international film community has not paid nearly enough attention to the atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War Two.In Chinese, the title of this film is hēi tài yang 731 which loosely translates into, "Black Sun: 731". The 731 is an allusion to the atrocious but mysterious Unit 731 of the Japanese armed forces which carried out unimaginable atrocities against both European and Asian populations in Imperial Japan's "conquered" territories. Make no mistake; Unit 731 is not a fictional invention of a filmmaker's imagination. Unit 731 actually existed and participated in many truly horrifying war crimes ranging from the development of chemical warfare to live human testing. The extent to which this unit utilized lethal human experimentation will perhaps never be fully known. The organizers of Unit 731 were successful in hiding their work at the end of World War Two. Most of the most heinous perpetrators of war crimes in this unit were pardoned.Unit 731 had many affiliated units. The film depicts one such unit which is made up of a group of young Japanese boys who are forced into the Imperial Japanese Army's Youth Corps. These playful boys end up serving under the cruel Shiro Ishii. Ishii doesn't care about the Japanese boys assigned to his unit. He doesn't even seem to care about his own men, let alone the Chinese people. The boys in the Youth Corps eventually lose faith in the Japanese war effort's leadership as they are exposed to horrific cruelty. These "men" behind the sun witness people being frozen alive to test how brittle limbs become when exposed to harsh temperatures. They witness a mute boy being harvested by Japanese medical researchers for his organs. Babies were separated from mothers. Women were raped to intentionally create babies that could later be used for further experimentation. Unit 731 is perhaps the darkest military unit in human history. "Men Behind the Sun", attempts to depict this tragic part of mankind's history. As the film progresses, Ishii becomes increasingly obsessed with winning World War Two at all costs, even if it means using chemical and biological weapons. As Japan loses battle after battle, Unit 731's desperation only increases. They begin to test epidemic causing bubonic plague bombs in assaults against the Chinese people around the major city of Harbin. But as everyone knows, Japan eventually lost the war. Unit 731 forsook humanity for nothing. At times, it is hard to watch and believe what is happening on screen. Such raw barbarism has very little entertainment value. But it is very informative. The cold-hearted nature and lack of empathy among the elder Japanese soldiers stands in sharp contrast to the initial optimism and playful nature of the boys in the Youth Corp. It is important to note that every atrocious moment depicted on-screen is merely a taste of the true scale and breadth of the atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War Two. This fact alone should make anyone feel sick. The makers of this film were criticized for making a film that had the potential to hurt Chinese relations with Japan. But as the opening of the film depicts, "Friendship is friendship; history is history".There are probably only a few films in existence that can cause people to be so horrified that they actually vomit. As a witness to this, it must be said that "Men Behind the Sun" is one such film. There are scenes in the film that were so gruesome and difficult to digest that they will leave viewers nauseated and uncomfortable. This nauseating discomfort is indeed the desired effect of this movie. It is impossible to discuss the atrocities committed during the course of World War Two without mentioning some genuinely heinous atrocities. It is even more difficult to depict such atrocities in a vivid medium as captivating as film. The makers of this film should be commended for their attempt.

**Some Spoilers Will Follow** Many people who see this film describe it as exploitation and disgusting. I hate to tell you, but this is what war is, even though what really happened goes far beyond what is allowed. All the experimentation depicted in the movie did actually happen, and much more. The movie itself is not particularly sickening, but nor is it for the faint of heart. The use of a real cadaver may seem like (pardon the pun) "overkill", but it only adds to the realism and just goes to show how strongly the people of China want justice for crimes that to this day have been pretty much suppressed (mostly by Japan and the US government, who gave Shiro Ishii and some of his staff immunity from prosecution in exchange for his medical data). The only complaint I really have of this movie is the poor job done in dubbing it in English which is perhaps some of the worst I have ever seen, but keep in mind that this film was primarily intended for Chinese audiences, not American or European. Some compare this to "Cannibal Holocaust", and while there are some similarities the movies are very different. The main difference being the sadistic nature and heinous acts actually happened in "The Men Behind the Sun". All in all, a truly brilliant piece of cinema that shows just how evil men can be and how incredibly depraved they can act.**A side note** To all you people out there screaming about animal cruelty, I assure you that no animals were hurt in the making of this movie (yes, the cat scene was totally fake).

World War II is the background of Men Behind the Sun. Based on the historical facts of the Japanese army using Chinese prisoners for medical experiments; the film pulls no punches, with its' graphic depictions of the cruelty inflicted by the captors. Some of the prisoners were injected with virus's to develop a form of bubonic plague for use against the civilian population. Others are tied to crosses and exposed to infected fleas. The few who attempt to escape are shot down as they run away. Much like the German's, the Japanese responsible for the atrocities, destroy the facility in order to cover up their misdeeds. The film stirred a huge controversy as an exploitation flick, but the director defended its' accuracy and use of grisly footage to get his point across. The torture scenes are horrific, the worst being a young woman tied up outside in the freezing cold as water is poured over her hands. She is later brought into a lab and forced to dunk her hands into a chemical which removes all of the flesh and all that is left is bones. The scientists watch it with no sympathy for the victim, as it is for weapons research to be used on the enemy. The point of the movie is to show that the holocaust was not limited to the Jewish population of Europe, but was a worldwide phenomenon. Men Behind the Sun is tough to watch but informative nonetheless.

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.