Philosophy of a Knife Limited Edition | 
| Director: Andrey Iskanov
Actor: Manoush
Studio: UNEARTHED
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $17.58
You Save: $12.41 (41%)
New (33) Used (10) from $15.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 20814
Format: Black & White, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Limited Edition, Ntsc, Widescreen
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 249
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 1033
UPC: 807839003635
EAN: 0807839003635
ASIN: B0018ZOARK
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: July 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
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Product Description
The true history of Japanese Unit 731, from its beginnings in the 1930's to its demise in 1945, and the subsequent trials in Khabarovsk, USSR, of many of the Japanese doctors from Unit 731. The facts are told, and previously unknown evidence is revealed by an eyewitness to these events, former doctor and military translator, Anatoly Protasov. Part documentary and part feature, the story is shown from the perspective of a young Japanese nurse who witnessed many of horrors, and a young Japanese officer who is torn between his sincere convictions that he is serving the greater purpose, and the deep sympathy he feels for an imprisoned Russian girl. His life is a living hell as he's compelled to carry out atrocious experiments on the other prisoners, using them as guinea pigs in this shocking tale of mankind's barbarity. Philosophy of a Knife is truly one of the most violent, brutal and harrowing movies ever made. Special Edition includes: Making of Documentary,
A Glimpse of Hell (Uncut version of the morgue sequence),
Director Introduction,
Interview with Actress Manoush,
Original Soundtrack,
Deleted Scenes,
Dead Before Born Music Video,
Forgive Me Music Video,
Still Gallery,
Booklet with Intro by Scott Gabbey.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Removed due to EXTREME OBSCENITY! September 6, 2008
1 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is really a cineastic masterpiece of perverted cruelties against men and especially women. I can only recommend AMAZON.COM to REMOVE this perverted flick before women's right activists get the track and play AMAZON against the wall due to EXTREME OBSCENITY in front of a court. Women are here raped and killed thereafter for FUN and ENTERTAINMENT purposes. This has really nothing to do with a "historical view". If AMAZON sells films like this they could also distribute child porns. Be WARNED, AMAZON! This could be a really expensive and negative media experience!
 Even with it's flaws, it's still amazing. August 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Just my opinions: First let me say I rate this film an 8.5 out of 10. Philosophy of a Knife is a film like no other. It has been said by other reviewers that it is like a giant music video. In some ways it is. That isn't a bad thing at all. Somebody really needs to contact Nine Inch Nails to get Andrey to do a video for them. The closest film I could even compare this to was the film "Goodbye Uncle Tom" (from the makers of Mondo Cane) only because it was part documentary, part reenactment, and part exploitation. Although Andrey probably didn't intend for this to be an modern day exploitation flick, it pretty much is. Although many people who made exploitation films probably weren't going for that at the time that they made their films. I found that the best way to watch this film is in 30 to 45 minute increments. I will admit at times it does drag on, but when you go away and come back it seems new, exciting, and fresh all over again. When I first heard rumors that the film might be cut down from 4 hours, I was passionate about letting the film remain in it's 4 hour entirety. Now after watching, I think it could have been knocked down to 3 and maybe even 2 hours. It would make it easier to recommend to people, because it takes quite a bit of dedication to get through the film. I don't have a short attention span, but let's just say Andrey has a exceptionally long attention span. Every scene should remain in the film, but many of the scenes contain many redundant shots. In some cases, the length of certain gore scenes make it lose it some of it's potency. However, I must say, the EFFECTS in this film are pretty much outstanding. Although, I wasn't a fan of the "old vintage film" effect used throughout the entire film (with the little lines and stuff). It wouldn't have been that big of deal if the effect wasn't still used on still-shots of photos or in the scenes with modern footage. It even used the effect on top of already "old vintage footage", making it "double vintage footage". I wish they had interviewed more people to give their opinions and views on Unit 731. For a documentary it's always nice to get many perspectives. Despite, the flaws I listed, this film is one of the best independent films to come out in years. The music done by Alexander Shevchenko in the film is top notch and can stand on it's own. It's good to buy the 2 Disc Special Edition so you can have all the music. Some of the most powerful scenes in my opinion were the "frost bite testing" when the guy is made to walk, and the scene towards the end with the Japanese solider letting the girl go. (very beautiful scene). It's a visual masterpiece. If you took all the best parts of this film, it would still be longer and better than all the "extreme" movies nowadays. If "extreme" was a genre, this would be one of it's crown jewels.
Poak (Great Movie,Worth Every Penny) August 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was waiting a While for (Philosophy of a Knife) and when i received it in the Mail. watched it that night. 4 Hour Movie Documentary/Feature-with Some Nice Extra's...
This Movie is going to Shock you,with everything that went on at Unit 731,The Director (Andrey Iskanov) did a Great job at Researching for this Project,Research that took him 4 years.Gaining Quite bit of Info of History to make a Succesful Movie. although the movie has a lot of History of what happend ect. the movie still doesnt (Tell ALL) of what happend. Movie could have been 30 minutes longer
USA did take the Info/documents from Unit 731.in exchange for amnesty to the (Doctors,soldiers) ect. i wish they could have gone into little more depth on that...
The way the director filmed the movie was great,with an old look,black/white,cigaret burns/lines ect.. really added to the viewing pleasure! The Actors did a good job at being believable,as well as the prisoners, The Music Score was Great! (the special Effects,Make-up,Sounds,Location's,) were all really Great as Well!!!
*looking forward to Andrey Iskanov's Next Movie* (The Tourist)
 Not Iskanov's best by a longshot, but still valuable. July 18, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Philosophy of a Knife (Andrey Iskanov, 2008)
For twenty years, a debate has raged over the title of most extreme gore film. While you'll have your classicists arguing for Cannibal Ferox and the like, the real discussion boils down to two films: Hideshi Hino's sixty-minute masterpiece Flower of Flesh and Blood and T. F. Mous' infamous started-as-a-documentary-and-turned-into-a-gore-film Men Behind the Sun. Now, MbtS is twenty years old, FoFaB twenty-three; you'd think by now someone would have pushed the envelope a bit. But those two movies are like the Whitehouse and Sutcliffe Jugend of filmdom; sometimes people get close, but no one ever seems to spill over into unknown territory. There are some envelopes that are, seemingly, made of titanium. The latest chap to try is Andrey Iskanov, whose Nails made me think we might be seeing the first truly boundary-battering Russian director since Tarkovsky; with Philosophy of a Knife, he decided to take what Mous was originally going to do and integrate it with what Mous finally did, creating what the horror underground have been calling a "goreumentary" ever since buzz started flying about this movie a year or so ago. And with a projected running time of over four hours (the released version does, in fact, clock in at four hours and nine minutes, excluding the intermission), a bunch of us believed it was time for Mous and Hino to step aside and acknowledge the new master. Well, now I've seen it. Mous and Hino are resting safely on their laurels.
It's tough to talk about directorial style when you're reviewing a documentary, so I'm not even going to try, except to mention that in the gore-film bits, all the wonderful stylistic quirks that made Nails (and, to a lesser extent, Visions of Suffering) such a treat are absent; I assume that's to keep the film's documentary look-and-feel. I missed them greatly, especially as it seemed to me that some more personal touches from Iskanov might have invested us a great deal more in what was going on; Mous achieves the shock and nausea he does in Men Behind the Sun specifically because he's got himself a storyline and some pretty solid characters, while Iskanov is more interested in depicting the horrors of Unit 731 in a more impressionist style. (There is one undercurrent of a storyline, actually; it involves what seems to be the growing feelings of a male nurse for one of the maruta. And it should come as no surprise that the resolution of that storyline, despite being one of the quietest scenes in the film, is also the strongest.) As a result, while there can be no doubt whatsoever that when you use a metric of gallons of fake blood and innards per hour, Iskanov probably has, in fact, created one of the most violent films I've ever seen, but the gore sequences never get under that barrier of detachment. There's no real effect to them, other than saying "hmm, interesting use of special effects." Also, a number of scenes seem designed more for shock value than anything else (though the documentary half of the film assures us that yes, these things really did happen), which took away from the movie somewhat. It should be noted, again, that the scenes obviously designed for shock value in Men Behind the Sun did not have this effect; i.e., they actually did shock, despite being far less explicit in most cases. I should also point out the soundtrack, which worked very well for a film like Nails, but constantly feels out of place here.
Still, I don't want to give the impression that this is a bad film. It's certainly the most comprehensive treatment of Unit 731 we've seen on screen, thanks in no small part to its epic run time, and that alone makes it a valuable document. And while I know Iskanov and crew spent four years on the project, it does seem as if one more rewrite of the script, to further integrate the gore-film aspects and give us some characters with whom we could empathize, would have done a great service to the finished product. ***
DEPRAVED... ABSOLUTLY DEPRAVED! July 15, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
let me start this review by stating i worked almost 5 years in a hospital emergency room and a medical university. everything in this artistic documentary is true... not one part of this movie lies in anyway! now, with that said... let me add that hospitals and medical schools do serve and train people to serve the wefare of all people, and the vast majority of people in the medical field enter the profession to be of service to others' in need. there were those few (and, i mean very, very few!) people in the profession who loved having and abusing their power over others. as a minister and psychotherapist i have spent my life studying this question: 'what makes people either act in evil ways and/or become evil and, still claim they are good, moral people?' i learned about this early in my life, seeing people around me abusing the authority they had over me. i enter the ministry and psychology to help find ways to help others' and make the world a better place for us all.i did not talk here about my early life just to talk about my early life. i wanted to show that i do know what i am talking about. philosophy of a knife is a jounery through hell! andrey iskanov and victor silkin more then deserve the highest praise for this fine educational documentary. the historical guest anatoliy protasov is most enlighting of russian/sovite history during the timeline of world war 2 and unit 731 since, he live in the area around unit 731 during the japanese occupation.debbie rochons interview of manoush (who narrated this documentary) was quite bad. ms. rochon is one fine actress, but interviewing like acting is a set of skills that need to be learned and, poor ms. rochon was out of her area as an interviewer. manoush was somewhat out of it herself, and not much into the interview which, made ms. rochons' job all the harder.alexander shevchenko did one great job of putting together one very, very fine soundtrack and, the bands that added to the soundtrack did one fine job too!POAK (philosophy of a knife) proves that even with a low budget, if you throw artistic talent into it... you can produce one great film on a shoe string!
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