Hei tai yang 731 (1988)

Director:

Tun Fei Mou

Writers:

Mei Liu (writer)
Wen Yuan Mou (writer)

Release Date:

1 December 1988 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Plot:

Japanese troops round up Chinese and Russian prisoners of war and take them to a place called Squadron 731, where they are grotesquely tortured and experimented on to test new biological weapons.

Plot Keywords:

Biological Weapon | China | Mutilated Child | Blood | Axe

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Hsu Gou
Tie Long Jin
Zhaohua Mei		(as Zhao Hua Mei)
Zhe Quan
Gang Wang
Runsheng Wang		(as Run Shen Wang)
Dai Yao Wu
Andrew Yu

Also Known As:

Hak taai yeung 731 (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
Man Behind the Sun (Hong Kong: English title)
Men Behind the Sun
Squadron 731

Runtime:

105 min | UK:102 min (cut)

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) | Australia:Refused Classification (original rating: 1989) | USA:Not Rated | Australia:R (re-rating on appeal) | Singapore:R(A) | New Zealand:R18 | South Korea:18 | France:-16 | UK:18 (cut)

Company:

Sil-Metropole Organisation

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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Conversations with T.F. Mou (2010)

don't believe the sequel hype

Man Behind the Sun is a worthy film, and readily smeared through its association with a number of schlock "sequels".

Given that most reviewers here can't read Chinese and are measuring the film by its disgust factor, it's easy to see why "Godfrey Ho" is wrongly credited with directing it, instead of just "parts" 2 and 3. The actual director, Mou Tun-fei (aka T.F. Mous) is alive and well and living in Taiwan at last report. He is also a committed Chinese nationalist, which helps to explain the genuine, almost uncontrollable anger in this film.

The "sequels" on the other hand are money-spinners. Anyone who has seen the original should know there was no scope for a sequel set in a camp that had already been destroyed at the conclusion of WWII. At best, "part" 2 is a remake, and a cheap, shabby one at that.

The film is also careful to note significant historical elements, such as how the US government protected some of the criminals portrayed in this film, partly in order to get hold of the scientific data produced at the expense of the lives of thousands of Chinese civilians. If you read books on the matter you will also discover that the vast majority of Japanese scientists implicated in these experiments went on to enjoy successful careers in Japanese universities.

There was no Simon Wiesenthal to chase up and prosecute these individuals, despite their conspicuous presence under a lengthy US administration, and to this day the two governments prefer not to talk about this particularly vile component of Japan's wartime legacy. "Stuff happens," eh Mr Rumsfeld?