This movie vs. 'Men Behind The Sun'. - Tras el cristal (1986) Discussion

[–] haewatein 16 years ago

MBTS is a very crappy movie, it has nothing to do with art, it's just Chinese propaganda with some brutal and that for 'shocking' (for most people) scenes, even if they are cheap and there is no story.

In a Glass Cage shows more quality, of course it's better.

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[–] PostmortemG 16 years ago

I dig both movies, but when it comes down to film-making technique, i have to go with I.A.G.C. - it's so well crafted. To quote John Waters: "they don't make art shockers like this anymore". M.B.T.S. is much more explicit and violent, but I.A.G.C. remains the darker and more disturbing of the two, in my opinion.

"Cain and Abel will go to Heaven... if they can make it through Hell!"
-Los Hijos Del Topo

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[–] haewatein 16 years ago

JOHN WATERS really said that? Thanks for the info.

I agree with you, for me MBTS was... well,... a little bit interesting but I don't get all the fuss behind it. It's not a good movie, to propaganda-like, to cheap... yeah, it's true of course what the Japanese did in that camp and at that time but the Chinese weren't angels either. It's just too over-the-top and definitely to cheap concerning the bad actors.

On the other hand In a Glass Cage, that one was REALLY hard for me to watch. My stomach churned all the time because the topics were so extreme and explicit (although not very graphic but that didn't matter). I was shocked as hell from this movie. I'll never forget it.

Pedophilia is just a very difficult topic to even talk about and this movie shows it's darkest sides, for me it was nearly unbearable.

____
IN WHICH EPISODE DOES ANAKIN KILL DARTH VADER AGAIN?
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[–] cyberbaboon 16 years ago

john waters also said "i like this movie, but i'm afraid to show it to my friends"

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[–] Gandalf_Lundgren_Returns 11 years ago

It's not just in that camp that the Japanese tortured the Chinese, there were several massacres carried out by the Japanese. Anything way way way worse then anything the Chinese ever did.

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[–] electronicoffee 14 years ago

Propaganda? Dude, the *beep* the Japanese did during that time, especially under the control of Shiro Ishii was 100% true. You're an idiot for even saying such a thing. At least it's real, compared to the OVERRATED crap this movie is.

'Cause I ride like Kelly Bundy, Yo I keep that *beep* nasty~ (Spank Rock)

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[–] Critical_Beatdown 13 years ago

Whether you like it or not, Man Behind The Sun is a propaganda film. By the way, only parts of it are real. Many of the scenes are fake and / or staged.

Others are correct about these films; they shouldn't really be compared but for my money's worth, Tras el cristal wins hands down, every time.

What we see as spectacle is in fact a ceremony

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[–] popularru 16 years ago

***MBTS is a very crappy movie, it has nothing to do with art, it's just Chinese propaganda with some brutal and that for 'shocking' (for most people) scenes, even if they are cheap and there is no story.

In a Glass Cage shows more quality, of course it's better. ***

I totally agree with you. MBTS is not a movie at all.

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[–] femmefatale3000 16 years ago

MBTS was worse for me. It had a real autopsy for christ's sake!! The cat scene I couldn't watch.

In a Glass Cage I must admit was a very well done film with amazing actors. It didn't get to me like MBTS did, that's not to say that it wasn't a powerful film though.

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[–] PostmortemG 16 years ago

"MBTS was worse for me. It had a real autopsy for christ's sake!! The cat scene I couldn't watch."

I.A.G.C. is a more effective film for me because the subjective experience is so much more intense. Tons of mondo-type movies/documentaries out there show autopsies and animal death, so unfortunately I'm desensitized to those things; very rarely does graphic imagery alone 'shock' me, and because I.A.G.C. doesn't rely on blunt brutality alone, i think it's a more effective, more important film.

"Cain and Abel will go to Heaven... if they can make it through Hell!"
-Los Hijos Del Topo

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[–] prettyh 15 years ago

I think they're too different to compare, really. Despite having a similar theme (or at least the same basic timeframe/setting/whatever word I'm looking for here!), the approach to each of them was vastly different - as several people have already said, MBTS was more of a documentary-like propaganda film, whereas IAGC is full-on, gritty-yet-glossy drama. MBTS had a few scenes that bothered me a lot, like the cat scene, but overall I think being drawn into the world of Angelo and Klaus was somehow more disturbing...maybe because it was a story told in such a way that we as viewers almost felt like we were going along for this whole horrifying journey. I felt kind of...dirty, or polluted, after seeing the insides of Klaus' mind.

So while I couldn't directly contrast the two, my vote for 'most disturbing' has to be for IAGC.

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[–] adamsmo 15 years ago

In A Glass Cage is, I guess, less disturbing. But it's far, far more well done.

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[–] trymyproduct11 14 years ago

I don't really think you can compare the two. MBTS doesn't really succeed on an artistic level the way IAGC does. MBTS is essentially an exploitation film, and I think IAGC transcends that label.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] Child_OfThe_Moon 12 years ago

I found this film easier to take because the characters are depicted as human beings with personal scars motives, whereas those who torture and kill in Men Behind The Sun are just shown as totally inhumane. And I do find gore much harder to sit through than anything else.

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