Behind Forgotten Eyes. 2007. Directed by Anthony Gilmore

During the time of World War II, Japan conquered and took control of some Asian countries. One of the tragedies of the time were the brutal rapings of Korean and Chinese young women, even teenagers and children. Blackest day of all was undoubtly the Nanking Massacre, the incident that has been told also the infamous film "Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre". After the Nanking incident, Japanese government noticed that the moral values of soldiers had been going down - and what's more important to them, the venereal diseases rapidly increased among the soldiers. And that's the reason why the bordello's came in the picture. And in them, "the comfort women" served Japanese soldiers against their will.

The director, Anthony Gilmore has succeed to keep the rhythm of the documentary. Both victims and the Japanese soldiers have their time to tell the story. Even though Behind Forgotten Eyes is not graphically disturbing, listening to stories is highly uncomfortable. Luckily - for the viewer and the interviewees - there is some glimpse of hope left, after all. The Korean "comfort women", now in their elder age tell the stories that totally shock, but Gilmore has given the opportunity to Japanese soldiers to tell their side of story. The soldiers don't even try to defend their acts, but seem really regret their past and their deeds. After all - or even after all, the stories and the message of this film, is that hopefully no-one will ever have to undergo this kind of nighmare.

Behind Forgotten Eyes contains a lot of animated scenes, that blend in and support the stories told. Meanwhile, the narration by Yunjin Kim (from tv-series Lost) is quite redundant mainly because the minimal use of her voice. On the other hand, you can see Kim's presence as a statement. The shocking stories and destinies take the documentary forward with a confident touch. The information is given to viewer in a slow but stable rhythm, so that alone gives more credible feel overall to Behind Forgotten Eyes.

After a long look at the WWII and the history of Korea and Japan, Gilmore takes the whole thing on a different level. Modern day Japan: Japanese government has not apologized officially their crimes of the past for Korean women. Now the documentary focuses on this and finds criticism also for U.S. Government. In the end, Behind Forgotten Eyes opens the eyes by telling about the details, that you probably can't find on history books and lessons.
www.behindforgotteneyes.com