(Photo Credit: Well Go USA Entertainment)
(“731” trailer courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment)
People often talk about the good old days.
For many people of a certain age, the current problems plaguing the world did not exist during their prime.
Likewise, many younger people believe that the problems of the past could not possibly resurface in the 21st century.
Unfortunately, both viewpoints are often flawed, and if people do not heed the warnings and lessons of the past, they are likely to fail soon.
Movies like “731,” a foreign language film, showcase how cruel and brutal human beings can be to another group of people when they fear them or when the oppressed do not fall in line with their regime.
Unfortunately, “731” does not compare with recent films that hold a mirror to society’s ills like “The Long Walk.”
In fact, it becomes a little difficult to stomach and get to the finish line.
The Marcus Theaters website describes “731” as follows: “The film tells the story of the Japanese Army’s Unit 731 in Harbin’s Pingfang District on the eve of victory in the War of Resistance in 1945. Under the guise of ‘water supply and epidemic prevention,’ the unit carried out bacteriological warfare research and slaughtered civilians through human experimentation, exposing crimes against humanity. Through the tragic ordeal of innocent civilians such as street vendor Wang Yongzhang—who were deceived, captured, imprisoned, and reduced to inhumane subjects of live experiments, the film depicts the suffering, awakening, and indomitable resistance of ordinary people in the torrent of war.”
“713” has the right subject matter for 2025.
It has the right message for 2025.
But because it is a foreign language film and some of the scenes are cheesy, it does not resonate like films of the past and present with similar important messages.
In 1997, the television movie “Miss Evers’ Boys” depicted how doctors and scientists used African-American men as guinea pigs in their experiments on the sexually transmitted disease syphilis.
Directed by Joseph Sargent, “Miss Evers’ Boys” starred Laurence Fishburne (“John Wick: Chapter 4”), Alfre Woodard (“12 Years a Slave”), Ossie Davis (“Jungle Fever”), Joe Morton (“Our Kind of People”), and Obba Babatunde (“Dear White People” television series).
While doctors did not declare outright biological war against African-American men with syphilis in the early 20th century, countless deaths were still the result.
With medicine, or the lack thereof, people can wage war against unsuspecting people who are clueless that their lives are in danger because of the absence of traditional weapons.
If a country or community can deny necessary medicine or give the wrong medicine, they can cause a catastrophe that is like what can be caused by a firearm.
In the Tuskegee Experiment depicted in “Miss Evers’ Boys,” African-American men with syphilis were denied treatment for their sexually transmitted disease because doctors and scientists wanted to see if their bodies responded similarly to their White counterparts with the disease.
Therefore, African-American men were given placebos instead of medicine to treat their illness.
Even when penicillin was discovered as a treatment for syphilis, many African-American men prematurely went to their graves because they were still given the placebo and not informed about the positive effects of penicillin.
Like “731,” recent movies like “The Long Walk” shed light on the danger that evil governments can pose to their people and others.
However, “The Long Walk” does it in a much more compelling way.
With “The Long Walk,” American moviegoers can truly empathize with the characters because of their relatability and the fact that the subject matter does not seem so far-fetched now when it would have been seen as such a mere 10 years ago or less.
Despite the shortcomings of “731,” the strength of the human spirit is present as the victims refuse to be victimized if it is in their control.
While the characters in “731” show their indomitable strength to overcome tyranny, the film “One Battle After Another,” which is in theaters today, is a warning of what could happen if victims get tired of being victims and resort to violence to remedy their grievances with their government.
In “One Battle After Another,” the characters use terrorism and other violent crimes to shift the government towards the will of the people.
It is reminiscent of the Civil Rights Movement in America of the 1950s and 1960s, giving way to the Black Power Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s.
The Civil Rights Movement preached nonviolent resistance to achieve equality and a true democracy, while the more militant Black Power Movement sought justice by any means necessary.
That mentality led to violence and terrorist attacks.
Martin Luther King, Jr. even warned former President Lyndon Baines Johnson that when African-Americans grew tired of nonviolent resistance and its slow pace towards justice, they would resort to violence to solve their problems.
Although the struggle for humanity is depicted in movies like “731” and “One Battle After Another,” people do not need to go to the movie theater to see that reality play out.
Unfortunately, they witness it every day as certain rights come under attack by repressive governments and leaders.
America has seen some violent resistance to the direction the government is taking the country.
The ultimate question is, will the country continue that violent and divisive trajectory, or will it use inner strength and perseverance to overcome obstacles?
Movies like “731,” “The Long Walk” and “One Battle After Another” do their best to capture that dilemma.
REGAL RATINGS
FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT
THREE CROWNS=GOOD
TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE
ONE CROWN=POOR
- Movie Review: ‘731’ Another Film That is a Warning - September 26, 2025
