731 (2025)

Once you are cured you will be free- repeated refrain 

Remember This and We Have Lived

This is a stylized look into what happened in the infamous Unit 731 where the Japanese tourtured thousands of people to death in the name of science. The film follows the story of one man who escaped and then found his way back to the camp. It ponders his role when he is forced to work for Japanese.

Looking and feeling of a kind of Nazi-sploitation film from the 1970's, it feels at times as if the designers of CALIGULA and THE DEVILS had an unholy love child. The film is very theatrical (it could almost be kin to OUR HITLER) with each section of the film meticulously planned in as theatrical a way as possible. Reds and golds and blues abound. Its real and not, with nothing out of place - there is no dirt and even the blood and gore is artistic. Its a kind of art house riff on THE MEN BEHIND THE SUN, but with a desire to make a point and not just shock us with gore.

Yes, the film catalogs the atrocities to some degree, but it does so almost tastefully. While it's not so stomach churning as the infamous MEN BEHIND THE SUN, it still packs a punch. The film's horrors come from fear of characters we know.

The film has a bone to pick with everyone, especially the Japanese. This is at least the third film in the last six weeks to recount the Japanese war crimes. Between the three films I'm shocked that the Japanese government hasn't said anything since between the three films anti Japanese feelings are going to be whipped into a frenzy. This isn't to lessen what the Japanese did in anyway, but the concentrated release from a state run film industry makes you wonder what the ulterior motive is. The film also, rightly, takes aim at the americans who let the murderers slide because they turned over their papers.

To be honest I don't know what I think of the film. On one hand I'm kind of shocked that the film wasn't picked up by some of the major film festivals since the films artistic merits are off the charts. This is the sort of art house cage rattler  that might have become legendary when if played the New York Film Festival, since it would have provoked a reaction and had people talking to the screen.

At the same time there is an (art house)soap opera nature to the story. The filmmakers want to push buttons and stoke emotions. this is propaganda on top of a heightened human story (I mean the use  kids, the pregant lady as victims....and just about everyone else's stories of pain and misery). It hits many cliches so hard that they are driven into next week. You have to accept the film's emotional manipulation of go mad.

The film is also so insistant that you knwo exactly precisely going on and where that a lot of the film comes with titles explaining who is who and when and where things are happening. It's so frequently done that it becomes silly. I don't think I've ever seen a film that used titles to explain things as much as this film.

It doesn't help that he film has such a heightened tone that I don't know if this is supposed be serious or a satire or if the filmitself doesn't know. Some scenes are tragic but the theatricality of the presentation makes you wonder why it seems silly. I giggled. (Think the end of GODFATHER 3 but without the music)

And yet I love the ballsy nature of the telling. I love that it is trying to be it's own thing, but at the same time I don't know if it wholly works. Yes I was moved, but not to tears. I was not crushed and it's clear as  the film goes through the final credits to blackness, that it wants to break its audience. That doesn't happen. Honestly I admire what it is doing, even if it occasional misses.

Ultimately this is a one of a kind film on an important subject. If you want a film that isn't main stream, give this film a shot.