 Masaki Kobayashi's mammoth humanist drama is one of the most staggering achievements of Japanese cinema. Originally filmed and released in three parts, the nine-and-a-half-hour The Human Condition (Ningen no joken), adapted from Junpei Gomikawa's six-volume novel, tells of the journey of the well-intentioned yet naive Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai) from labor camp supervisor to Imperial Army soldier to Soviet POW.
Constantly trying to rise above a corrupt system, Kaji time and again finds his morals an impediment rather than an advantage. A raw indictment of its nation's wartime mentality as well as a personal existential tragedy, Kobayashi's riveting, gorgeously filmed epic is novelistic cinema at its best.
Special Features: Excerpt from Directors Guild of Japan Video Interview with Director Masaki Kobayashi, Video Interview with Tatsuya Nakadai, Video Appreciation of Kobayashi and The Human Condition featuring Shinoda,
Japanese Theatrical Trailers.
Spoken Languages: Japanese, English subtitles. |
