Men Behind the Sun (Chinese: 黑太阳731 / 黑太陽731; pinyin: hēi tài yáng 731, literally meaning Black Sun : 731, also sometimes called Man Behind the Sun ) is a 1988 Hong Kong historical exploitation horror film directed by T. F. Mou.
The film is a graphic depiction of the war atrocities committed by the Japanese at Unit 731, the secret biological weapons experimentation unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. It details the various cruel medical experiments Unit 731 inflicted upon the Chinese and Siberian prisoners towards the end of the war.
This is the first film to be rated "III" (equivalent to the US rating NC-17) in Hong Kong.
Plot
The film opens with the passage " Friendship is friendship ; history is history."
A group of Japanese boys are conscripted into the Youth Corps. They are assigned to the Kwantung Army, and are brought to one of the facilities serving Unit 731, which is headed by Shiro Ishii. Soon, they are introduced to the experiments going on at the facility, for which they feel revulsion. The purpose of the experiments is to find a highly contagious strain of bubonic plague, to be used as a last-ditch weapon against the Chinese population.
Meanwhile, the young soldiers befriend a local mute Chinese boy with whom they play games of catch. One day, the commanding officers ask the boys to bring the Chinese child to the facility. Naively, they follow orders believing that no real harm will come to the boy ; however, the senior medical staff places the boy in surgery for the purpose of harvesting his organs for research.
