Artist in Person

(Riben Guizi). How can these old husbands, fathers, and grandfathers be devils? Veterans of Japan's war against China (1931-1945), these seemingly harmless old men once committed unspeakable acts. The rest of Asia knows what the Imperial Army did to Chinese civilians, but most Japanese-and most crucially, schoolchildren-continue to live in ignorance of the atrocities committed in their country's name. Amidst Japan's current neo-nationalistic sentiment-glimpsed in opening scenes of clashing rallies on the streets of Tokyo-fourteen ex-soldiers give bold and riveting testimony of rape, murder, pillage, torture, slavery, and cannibalism under Japan's military rule. The soldiers' testimony exposes the brutal peer pressure, towering arrogance, and humiliation that molded them into torturers and killers. But Japanese Devils makes no claim for the Imperial Army's uniqueness in the annals of war. It simply talks history, bearing witness to future nation-builders, to show them the true face of war.