If you are into Asian cinema, especially the more extreme examples of this region’s films, then you may have heard of a nasty little film called Men Behind the Sun.  MBS is a notorious Hong Kong gore film from 1988, about a top secret (and still little-known) Japanese biological and chemical warfare unit established during WWII called Unit 731.  Not only is it gruelingly violent, but the director, T.F. Mou, was able to use the actual corpse of a small child for an autopsy sequence (with permission of the parents), stirring up controversy that continues even today.  Mou followed MBS with Black Sun:  The Nanking Massacre, another WWII adventure based upon actual events.  This film also stirred controversy with the extreme gore sequences and the insertion of actual film clips of Japanese soldiers executing Chinese soldiers and civilians during the 1939 massacre. 

Just as Ruggero Deodato defended Cannibal Holocaust as a “message” film criticizing the media and commenting on global racism, Mou defended his films by explaining that he was trying to “expose” the heinous crimes of the Japanese military during WWII.  And just as there were two factions arguing about the legitimacy of Cannibal Holocause (is it merely a misunderstood film with a message or a thinly disguised, racist exploitation flick?) the same two factions constantly argue about the legitimacy of Mou’s two WWII films.

Having seen and enjoyed all three of these controversial films (OK—I’ll admit that I own all three), I was naturally excited to discover that another infamous T.F. Mou flick had finally been released in America.  Called Lost Souls, everything I read built it up to be just as twisted as any of the other aforementioned films.

Made in 1980, the film follows a group of mainland Chinese who try to escape the clutches of the evil communists and make their way to the freedom of Hong Kong.  While these refugees risk imprisonment and eventual deportation back to mainland China (and one would assume more imprisonment and possible abuse by the disgruntled Commies), starvation, dehydration, and even possible drowning for a better life, by far the worst fate rests with those who are caught after landing in Hong Kong by unscrupulous gangs who kidnap the refugees and hold them for ransom until their relatives that are already living in Hong Kong can pay for their release.  If the refugees cannot provide a phone number to contact their relatives, they are abused, tortured, and sold as slaves or prostitutes.

The film opens with a small family that have set out on their own from mainland China with the goal of reaching a particular Hong Kong neighborhood called Diamond Hill.  These three naively believe that if they can make it to Diamond Hill, they will live a life of luxury because Diamond Hill must be made of diamonds and other riches.  They meet up with a larger group of refugees also making their way towards the shore.  Joining them, the group makes it to the beach only to walk into a smuggler’s trap. 
The next hour or so is one long series of tortures and abuses heaped upon the refugees by the smugglers as they attempt to determine which refugees have relatives in Hong Kong and which don’t.  This isn’t so much a gore film as it is sexploitation in the vein of Italian Nazi films or the women-in-prison films from the seventies and eighties.  There is a great deal of full-frontal nudity, mostly female, but even some male, and several simulated rapes, along with beatings and other forms of torture and degradation.  There is even a small boy, perhaps of 8 or 9 years old, that appears nude for a good portion of the film, which may make Western audiences cringe (too close to kiddie porn for some, I would think), although, thankfully, the child doesn’t suffer any particular abuse himself, physically or sexually.

There are some cheap, crude effects when blood is called for, but it is mostly limited to splashes on walls and floors, or splashes on body parts, which is a bit lurid, but not necessarily realistic or gross.  As I said before, this is much more a sexploitation flick, with the most heinous scene probably when the main smuggler greases up one of the male refugees and (very) viciously sodomizes him while he is bound hand-and-foot to a wooden bench.

But instead of traumatizing this refugee to the breaking point, it enrages him.  In the goriest scene this poor man takes revenge on the main smuggler, not only killing him, but helping to jumpstart a revolt (again, think WIP flicks) against the smugglers.  The refugees eventually escape and almost make it when one of them gets tongue-tied at a police checkpoint and answers “Diamond Hill” when asked his place of residence.  The policeman is obviously surprised, and realizing his misstep, the refugees panic, giving themselves away.  The group lead the police on a wild chase, with some of the refugees dying, but most getting captured, presumably to be deported back to China and a perpetual life of misery.

But one of our main characters survives, after seeing his other two family members fall to the cops.  He slowly makes his way toward his Holy Grail, Diamond Hill.  In perhaps the most moving scene in the film, he reaches the crest of a hill and enters a filthy, dilapidated slum.  Stopping a passerby, he asks, “How do I get to Diamond Hill?”  The answer, perhaps predictably, but still a bit shockingly, is, “You ARE at Diamond Hill.”  The film ends with the refugee, screaming pitiably, finally realizing that Diamond Hill isn’t the place of his dreams—it’s no better than what he had back in China.

I can hear Mou now arguing that this film also has a message about the mistreatment of Chinese mainlanders and the exploitation of Chinese refugees, and it may well have.  But this is also a classic exploitation flick that has all the trappings of a Category III flick:  a little blood, a few rapes, a lot of nudity, and general bad taste.  Now I’m a fan of Category III films and I don’t mind some bad taste, so I wasn’t offended and liked the film pretty well.  But if you don’t have the stomach for this type of film, it could be tough for you to handle, so be warned:  this film is pretty strong stuff.  The acting isn’t great, and it’s obviously a low-budget quickie, but it’s good, tasteless fun.