Directed by Andrey Iskanov
A few
years ago I met up with a director from Russia, named Andrey Iskanov, in
talks about his flick called Nails. He sent me the files to watch it but I
never could get them to line up well enough for me to watch the flick. Now a
year later he’s got anther flick out and I was fortunate enough to have a
representative of his send me a copy of Nails, along with his new one
entitled PHILOSOPHY OF A KNIFE. I must say that I was glad to have seen POAK
first because it gave me a complete understanding of what the director tries
to convey in his movies. Enough of the babbling and let’s get on with the
movie at hand, shall we?
PHILOSOPHY OF A KNIFE brutally retells
the story of the infamous Japanese experiment camp in Russia called Unit
731, from it's beginnings in the 1930's, to its demise in 1945. It actually
seems to be laid into play during WW1 but the point of the story focuses
more during the beginnings of WW2 and the Holocaust era. Pictures and scenes
of what may or may not be re- created scenes to make this flick have been
compiled from the actual Russian Unit 731 Translator to the Japenese;
Anatoly Protasov. Retold from the nurse’s point of view (Narrated by the
lovely Manoush) there are things that no one, NO ONE should ever have to
endure. Experiment after experiment you sit in disgust as these doctors are
laying people on tables exposing them to well over Hiroshima like radiation
amounts flat out melting sides of their faces off to forcing STD infected
patients to rape perfectly healthy specimens to see what it will do to them.
The things you see in this film are disturbing and should only be watched if
you truly believe you can handle it. My better half has been hounding me
ever since I received this movie to watch it. Being with me for a year and a
half she’s seen every Takashi Miike film, including IMPRINT, which has been
known to make people pass put in sheer terror.. She’s seen Nekromantik,
Cannibal Holocaust, Irreversible, Aftermath, you name it, and I’ve made her
watch some of the supposed most brutal movies made to date. But nothing to
this date has affected her such as POAK. When we got to the teeth pulling
section she straight up passed out. I looked over and saw her flat out
passed out...first time ever!!! Many props go out to Iskanov for creating
such a brilliant, I NEED TO SHOWER NOW, film. Even I was offended by this
movie
All I
can say is to hell with Schlindler and his dumb ass list ….Unit 731 is
completely and utterly the most horrifying story I’ve ever heard of. You
hear the stories of the Holocaust, the others like Anne Frank (yeah,
yeah…poor girl), but holy Jesus, Iskanov shows us a side of a race of people
doing something in which I don’t believe anyone could truly understand their
reasoning for why they were doing them..
There’s really not much else I should have to say to make you want or not
want to watch this film. Iskanov’s utilizing of actual interviews of
Anatoly, and this director’s success in making a film in black and white
that still terrifies the shit out of the viewer is a job well done. Granted
it is 4 hours long and tends to loose some of its steam mid way through the
second half and you could even go as far as to say maybe he tries to hard
but bottom line is that I personally enjoyed this flick. Watch it and judge
for yourself.
Let me
just re-iterate on how bad of a place this was: things were so bad even the
nurse had to crank up operatic music on a turntable just to drown out the
screams…There’s obviously been a lot of research in this subject and Andrey
Iskanov, whom is actually from that area; I believe, beautifully retells a
story that will give me nightmares for ever. He’s hopped right in my boat of
favorite directors that I’ll watch anything they offer me….you should
definitely keep an eye out on this cat…his scarily creeping into American
homes and he’s not being nice about it…kudos sir…you are truly a God amongst
men! Just watch it….it’s messed up!!!
You
should seriouslly go check out more of this dude by going
here
Review by
Necrostein
