The Human Condition (film series)
| The Human Condition | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Masaki Kobayashi |
| Written by | Masaki Kobayashi (I-III) Zenzo Matsuyama (I-III) Koichi Inagaki (III) Jumpei Gomikawa (novel) |
| Produced by | Shigeru Wakatsuki (I-III) Masaki Kobayashi (II, III) |
| Starring | Tatsuya Nakadai Michiyo Aratama |
| Cinematography | Yoshio Miyajima |
| Edited by | Keiichi Uraoka |
| Music by | Chuji Kinoshita |
| Distributed by | Ninjin Club |
Release date | 1959–1961 |
Running time | 579 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Languages | Japanese Mandarin |
The Human Condition (
Background
It was directed by Masaki Kobayashi and stars Tatsuya Nakadai. The trilogy follows the life of Kaji, a Japanese pacifist and socialist, as he tries to survive in the fascist and oppressive world of WWII-era Japan. The character development of Kaji through the three films is considered by many to be inspirational. Each film is divided into two parts. Altogether, the trilogy is nine hours and forty-seven minutes long, not including intermissions.
Trilogy
No Greater Love
The first film, No Greater Love (1959) opens with Kaji marrying his sweetheart Michiko despite his misgivings about the future. The couple then move to a large mining operation in Japanese-colonized Manchuria where Kaji is a labor supervisor assigned to a workforce of Chinese prisoners. He tries and ultimately fails to reconcile his humanistic theories with the brutal reality of forced labor in an imperial system.
Road to Eternity
In the second film, Road to Eternity (1959), Kaji, having lost his exemption from military service by protecting Chinese prisoners from unjust punishment, has now been conscripted into the Japanese Kwantung Army. Despite his anti-militarism, Kaji excels in his training and tries to implement his ideals in his dealings with other soldiers in the face of the prevailing brutality. The film ends with the Soviet army's victorious onslaught.
A Soldier's Prayer
The final film in the trilogy is A Soldier's Prayer (1961). The Japanese forces having been shattered, Kaji and some comrades embark on an epic journey on foot southward to where Kaji hopes to rejoin Michiko. After surviving many perils he is captured by the Red Army and subjected to treatment that echoes that meted out to the Chinese in the first film. Eventually, disappointed that Communism, which he had hoped would be a force for human liberation, seemed little better than the oppressive systems he had been struggling against all along, and still dreaming of finding his wife, Kaji escapes and faces his ultimate trial in the vast winter wasteland.
Reception
The British film critic David Shipman described the trilogy in his 1983 book, The Story of Cinema, as "unquestionably the greatest film ever made."[1]
External links and References
- ^ Shipman, D. The Story of Cinema, Hodder and Stoughton 1983
 | This article about a Japanese film or Japanese film–related topic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |