Men Behind The Sun

[Macarbe]

*****SPOILERS ALERT*****



What about the autopsy scene on the boy or when the lady gets her hands froze and then the doctor sees her and rips the flesh off her forearms and hands.



*****END OF SPOILERS*****

[Sicknero]

Hm what about it..?

I wouldn't call Men Behind the Sun a horror film anyway. I was thinking about this the other day and while the film has some "horror ingredients", the intention is completely different.

Horror films are made ultimately for entertainment - this film on the other hand is intended to record and inform the world about atrocities at Unit 731 in Japan during the closing years of WW2. As such it's more properly a historical film and I'd feel uncomfortable even thinking of it as entertainment.

For me most of the effects were too OTT and unconvincing, so that while watching it I had to keep reminding myself that I was watching a portrayal of real events that happened to real people.

By the way it's a Chinese film so doesn't belong in this thread.

[neverending]

The categories in this forum were set up years ago by the admin, and can't be changed. This section is used currently to discuss all Asian horror, so this thread is fine here.

[shadyJ]

Men Behind the Sub wasn't made to inform, it was made to sensationalize and exploit. It is very much a horror film. If you want to learn about Unit 731, there are a lot of good resources out there which aren't nearly as lurid.

[Sicknero]

I'm not so sure. Certainly it is a lurid film but his original intention was to make a documentary and there are cultural differences to take into account. I mean, an equally graphic film account of the Poland concentration camps would never be acceptable in Western cinema in this form, we can only accept such footage if presented as pure documentary.

The sensationalised style of presentation doesn't necessarily inform the intent of the director imo. Just my opinion though... I can see what you are saying too.

I learnt about Unit 731 long before seeing the film... history is one of my other passions.

The categories in this forum were set up years ago by the admin, and can't be changed. This section is used currently to discuss all Asian horror, so this thread is fine here.

Aha sorry. I thought I saw an Asian thread too.

[neverending]

This is far from a documentary. It's not presented as such, and criticism of the exploitative nature of the film has been voiciferous. You yourself note the lurid nature of the effects.

[Sicknero]

Absolutely, I never said it was. Just that Mous's original intention had been to make a serious documentary.

He claims that his plans had to change because of no original documents being available (either destroyed or shipped back to Japan/USA/Russia and classified), and because nobody was willing to fund the project (he uses the phrase "political hot potato"). Granted, this version of events does raise several other questions.

About criticisms of exploitation, Mous says "Man Behind the Sun is not exploitation. If I wanted the film to be a splatter film, I could have made it far more shocking than it is (laughs). It was very difficult for me to decide if the film was over-the-top or if I had to make it more gruesome. I still want people to know how terrible the Japanese camps were and that's why I can't see what's the big deal over the boy's autopsy - I had to show something."

My point overall anyway, was that I think this film deserves to be watched as more than just a straightforward horror. Whether or not Mous was actually successful or misguided in his intentions... well that's another question entirely.

It's a fascinating topic though - how do we define the horror genre? At what point does a horror become a war film, or a historical film, or vice versa? Fascinating to me anyway, perhaps I need to get out more :-)

Full interview with Mous here by the way - T.S. Mous Interview 1999 (http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/9901/offscreen_columns/ManBehind1.html)

[neverending]

I agree it's not a horror film. But I wouldn't classify it as straight war film or drama either.

[shadyJ]

I don't mean to nit pick, but I would say its very much a horror film. Horror is a very broad genre. Per Wikipedia: "Horror is a film genre seeking to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears". Men Behind the Sun certainly fall into that definition, more so than any other film type I can think of. I think its primary aim was to horrify the audience more than inform the audience.

[Sicknero]

That's not nit-picking, it's an interesting comment in a thread which I thought wasn't stimulating any discussion :)

I disagree with Wiki's definition though on two counts really....

For instance a lot of advertising aims to generate feelings of fear, inadequacy and so on by playing on people's psychological processes and vulnerabilities, and so by that standard should be classified as horror.

On the other hand, I think a lot of horror (clearly not all) aims to stimulate a positive emotional reaction through escapism, the satisfaction of seeing "deserving cases" come to a gruesome end, and the vicarious thrill when the survivor wins through and escapes with the slasher/monster foiled or even destroyed.

I still think it comes down to an intent to entertain. I agree it's a very broad genre though and one not easily pinned down.