Film on atrocities of Japan's Unit 731 premieres

The highly anticipated historical film Evil Unbound, which delves into atrocities committed by Japan's Unit 731 during World War II, premiered globally at 2 pm on Wednesday in Harbin, Heilongjiang province.

During the war, Unit 731 established a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base in Harbin's Pingfang district and tested bacteria on humans, conducted cruel experiments and let victims die in extreme agony.

Unit 731 was the earliest Japanese biological warfare special force, the largest in scale, and staffed by many professionals. It was equipped with advanced facilities, according to the Exhibition Hall of Evidences of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army.

At least 3,000 people were used for experiments, and more than 300,000 people across China were killed by Japan's biological weapons, according to the hall.

The film reveals the inhumane acts of the Japanese army from the perspective of ordinary people. It depicts how street vendor Wang Yongzhang and others were forcibly taken into Unit 731's "special prison", lured with false promises of freedom in exchange for cooperation in health checks and epidemic research, and instead subjected to extreme torture that included frostbite experiments, gas experiments and live dissections.

"The real history is far more brutal than the film depicts," said Jin Chengmin, curator of the hall. "The crimes of Unit 731 are a dark part in human history, which had been kept top secret during the war and heavily concealed afterward. Many historical facts remain undisclosed so far. The film aims to raise awareness of the atrocities committed by Unit 731."

Director Zhao Linshan led the creative team and spent 10 years visiting various sites, collecting historical materials and consulting over a million words of information, striving to ensure every detail has a historical reference.

"By exposing their crimes, we aim to ensure this history becomes a shared memory for all nations and humanity," Zhao said. "We hope to convey historical responsibility and foster peace through artistic expression."

Lead actor Jiang Wu said his performance was both artistic and deeply personal. "In the film, I not only portrayed a character, but every time I studied historical materials and immersed myself in the performance, I deeply felt the devastation that war has caused to human nature."

The 125-minute film will officially be released across China on Thursday, marking the 94th anniversary of the Sept 18 Incident.

Before its release, the film had already garnered significant interest. As of midnight Tuesday, data from Chinese movie ticketing platform Maoyan showed that more than 4.5 million people expressed interest in watching it, with presale box office earnings of 108 million yuan ($15.2 million) and 217,000 screenings scheduled for Thursday.

Wang Haifeng, a senior engineer at Heilongjiang's forestry design and research institute, said she was profoundly moved after watching the film.

"On Sept 3, I watched the military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, which was a soul-stirring moment of glory," she said. "Today, the atrocities of Unit 731 on screen pierce the eyes like a sharp blade, a profound pain that reaches deep into my heart.

"We are both bearers of historical pain and guardians of future peace. We should draw strength from the pain and move forward steadfastly on the path of rejuvenation, safeguarding peace and creating a better future."

On Wednesday morning, a special exhibition on the making of the film was held in front of the former headquarters of Unit 731.

"The exhibition is not just a simple display of film props but a space for constructing historical memory," Jin said. "The recreated scenes used in the filming bring back the eerie atmosphere of the base at that time, allowing audiences to understand how the film restores history and to feel the truth of history through details."

Two new books — Revealing the History of Unit 731 and Illustrated History of Unit 731's Biological Warfare — were also launched at the hall on Wednesday. The books are a systematic collection of evidence of Unit 731's crimes, covering cross-national evidence, oral history and multilingual archives, and represent the latest research findings.