The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961) User Reviews

Possibly the greatest anti-war statement

[Trouter2000 · 10/10 · 4 November 2007]

When people think of anti-war films titles such as Platoon, All Quiet on the Western Front and Schindler's List almost immediately come to mind; such films have defined the genre in American culture. However very few directors have provided the perspective from the axis point of view, and fewer still were able to do so in a way that humanizes all countries, not just the protagonist's. Masaki Kobayashi, who is most well known for his samurai pictures such as Seppuku and Samurai Rebellion is able to form such a film, without even a hint of pretentiousness.

The series of films spans nearly ten hours, following a pacifist named Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai), as he struggles to keep his principles during war times. First as an overseer of a P.O.W. camp, then as a soldier. Due to the length of the film, the level of character development and acting quality, we end up feeling his frustration, pain and triumphs, as each occasion leaves room for both a triumph of the human spirit and subjugation of it. Kaji despises both warfare and violence of all kinds, yet tries to rationalize it for the good of those around him. We become so attached to him and his struggle, that we begin to feel similarly, and as a result we are left with one of the most moving chronicles of the loss that war becomes. I won't spoil anything, but any viewer will be floored by the end, it left me utterly breathless.

So overall I recommend it quite highly, its one of the few great anti-war statements that has aged VERY well in the modern day, and possibly Kobayashi's greatest work. Never slow, yet at the same time never glorifying the action, it is a film that I eagerly await to see re-released.

10/10.

Love is the Condition for Being Human

[jouler500-art · 10/10 · 9 April 2010]

Ningen no jôken is a masterpiece film but is also painful to watch most of the time. Nonetheless, it is a tour de force to be lauded for its direction, cinematography and acting at every turn. Most of those commenting in previous discussions mention the virulent anti-war sentiment of the film which is abundantly evident. It was interesting that much of the film is autobiographical, inspired by Kobayashi's war experiences. He too refused to be an officer when he qualified, and stayed a private throughout the war. An interesting point came up when I was watching the fourth DVD in the Criterion edition of The HumanCondition which is a series of three insightful interviews. During his comments the director Masahiro Shinoda mentioned that he thought at the time, the romantic love Kaji had for his wife, Michiko, was overly sentimental and unrealistic. He thought that it was due to the fact that Kobayashi and his peers were born of another age whose romanticism was the norm and unsullied by his generation's sobering war experience. He said that he had also consulted the internet to see the opinions of the film among contemporary young people in Japan today, and found that they too, thought the love unrealistic. He felt the love should have been more erotic and less idealized. The remarks of another commentator solidified my opinion of this issue about Kaji's love. That writer stated that the title really means more like "condition for being human." This confirmed my opinion that Kobayashi's point of the film is that what makes one human, in the best sense of the word, is love. Otherwise we devolve into some type of cruel bestiality found in the phrase 'man's inhumanity to man.' This inhumanity is evident throughout the film, whether in the sadism of the other Japanese soldiers, the cruelty of the guards to the Chinese prisoners, or in the malice of the of the Russian overseers. However, the Kaji character is set apart: he sticks to his ideals, he is humble, he displays selflessness as seen when he gives his food to another or when leading the men and puts them ahead of himself. He is a type of everyman whose being is elevated above merely satisfying physical needs and responding to base instincts. He remains an ennobled human not a saint above the fray, but his love gives him the will to live, to continue on and to even do good when surrounded by evil. Love is the condition for being human.

The Ten Hour Film Format has some Merits

[info-510-415409 · 10/10 · 14 June 2013]

This trilogy was a grueling and rewarding. It was chilling to watch but I persevered. It was about the conflict between nationalism and the individual struggling for humanism. If you transfer yourself to post WW2 Japan you could see how powerful this film was. It was necessary for the soul searching that was to heal the results of the war.

It is as important today as it was then.

This trilogy affected me deeply after watching it.

There is hardly a frame in the ten hours that does not have any sub-text associated with it.

The ten hour film format has some merits maybe it will catch on.

Kobayashi's Wasteland

[Polaris_DiB · 9/10 · 21 December 2009]

The Human Condition, Part III The war is over in real time, the battle is over in film time, and Kaji has regained his sanity at the expense of his entire platoon--out of 160, only three of his fellow soldiers are left after the battle, and they begin the trek across war-torn Manchuria in search of home. Despite Kaji's morals slipping--he has now gone from someone who grieved smacking a man to someone who has killed--he finds his humanist beliefs to be highly successful in the anarchic post-war land, as people are drawn by the power of his principles. He isn't able to save everybody, but he manages to travel through a deep forest (the entire movie's finest sequences, both photographically and dramatically), gain soldiers from various still-remaining guerrilla camps, and make it all the way to a village before he's sold out by the village's seductress and sent to a Russian POW camp. Unsurprisingly, there he finds that his belief in the righteousness of the Reds is just another form of the same broken system that has destroyed his character throughout the last eight hours of screen time, and, losing all morality and sense of critical thinking, he finally breaks free to die an existential death.

The innocent to save this time around is Terada, a young soldier he saved from battle who worships Kaji and tries to follow Kaji to the bitter end--and bitter his end becomes. Along with Chen from the first part and Obara from the second, that makes one character per movie that Kaji reaches out for for a form of redemption, only for the system to swallow them up and cast them out like less than meat. Kaji's own personal morality, however, is the biggest failing of all, as he goes from a pacifist to someone capable of killing a co-prisoner by beating him to death with a length of chain. Kaji traces three bad decisions, and the final one is the attempt to escape, which turns out fatal. He also goes from one in the position of power over POWs to a POW himself, and incapable of communication with his superiors, unlike when he was the superior and spoke Chinese.

A final plot arc that can be traced is this. In the first movie, Kaji looked slightly Western in appearance and his demeanor was often remarked upon. The same thing happens in the third movie, only this time he looks like a revolutionary leader (there is a visual comparison in the Soviet camp between him and Lenin), and everyone remarks about his beard, which stands out from all the other men and indicates a different station for him. It's interesting to note that in the first movie he's powerful because he CAN resist against authoritarianism; but in the last movie he's most powerful when authoritarianism is absent completely and the characters are faced with abject survival. Nevertheless, unable to build a new, principled community out of nothing, he has only the wide horizons of Manchuria to struggle against, and the pock-marked stations of society that continually block his path to his beloved Michiko, until nature itself forces him to realize that he has betrayed her by betraying his principles.

Kaji is certainly a remarkable character throughout the 9 1/2 hour epic, but there are some ways in which his resistance is hard to swallow, considering its futility. This happens especially poorly in the second part, but in the third part it springs from necessity, which is a welcome character turn in Kaji but involves a sudden change in the supporting characters from fully developed individuals to slightly stereotypical Bad Guys, especially in the sixth section of the movie and the finale. Despite the length of the entire film, the ending still feels a little rushed and the moments of begging are so out of place they almost feel like dream sequences, though literal. Nevertheless, if you take the entire film to be a spiral, then the sixth section is where gravity takes over and the thrust of Kaji's convictions ceases all effectiveness. Thus why the third part contains not one single instance of the word "humanism" and only one feeble attempt at the word "socialism".

--PolarisDiB

Stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Eisenstein and Fellini

[ekeby · 10/10 · 7 January 2007]

I disagree with the other reviewer here; I think you can see these three movies individually, although you must see them in the correct order. To see all three in one sitting strikes me as something that might almost be impossible, not just physically, but emotionally.

It is beyond me how these films escaped my attention all these years--I'd only become aware of them recently. Clearly, this trilogy is one of the great film achievements of all time, right up there with Eisenstein and Fellini. Never mind that the message of the films is overwhelming emotionally--the sheer technical achievement of making them is almost beyond my comprehension. The cinematography is first rate all the way through--the acting is the best you'll ever see. You are not watching a movie, you're sharing the experiences of people in impossible situations.

Don't read reviews, don't even read the DVD box (as I did on the first one) because you may encounter spoilers. This is one experience you do NOT want to have spoiled. Just be aware this is very serious fare, it is a drama in every sense of the word. There are moments of incredible tenderness, but there is absolutely nothing to laugh at--there is NO comic relief of any kind. it is deadly serious all the way through.

I wasn't particularly eager to watch Human Condition because, knowing the plot summary, it sounded like too much of a downer. Yes, the subject is depressing, but great art is uplifting. This is great art.

sympathy for the Japanese devil

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 28 July 2008]

This third part of the Human Conditon trilogy is my personal favorite, which says a lot considering how sensational the first two films were. For Soldier's Prayer, Masaki Kobayashi takes the 'hero' of the series, Kaji, out of the war-zone and now as a fully-formed leader of a militia-level group of soldiers who are just looking to get home. In a sense this is what the series is about- the kind of same sense that Lord of the Rings is about destroying a ring and getting back home- only this time laced with the kind of dread and doom that most directors wouldn't come close to trying let alone accomplishing. It's a tale of survival, not just physically and mortally, but spiritually- the human spirit, I mean to say. Even as Kaji drifts further along to his doom in that freezing Siberian tundra, his spirit and conscience and hopes to get back to Machiko are still intact. It's not simply "he died, the end," though if you feel tears welling up in your eyes it's not cruel in manipulation. This is heartbreak cinema at its most crushing, and honest.

And Kobayashi also makes it about ruminating on war-time once it's come to a close; he uses flashbacks and voice-over to emphasize this time, unlike in previous films, what the characters (mostly Kaji but sometimes others) are haunted by and wish for, the bodies they've lain in their paths or the rot they've witnessed (one moment that will haunt me is the Soviet truck dumping the woman's body, played back a second time after first shown in long-shot in a closer angle). It's also exciting seeing Kobayashi trying new styles and methods to amp up the tension and atmosphere, as seen incredibly in those dire forest scenes with Kaji, his men, and the tag-alongs looking for any food and sanity available. The tone for the first part of the picture is certain in its uncertainty, of where these soldiers and Kaji will go to, if they're lost or going the right way, if they'll get caught. And yet, even with the grim scenes of violence and bloodshed (more graphic than you might expect) and fatalism put to 11, a few bits of the poetic beauty from past films emerge here (my favorite was a simple scene of a woman washing her face on the riverside).

By the time the second half comes around, it becomes the darkest it's been in the trilogy as Kaji and his men surrender to the Soviets and things have come full circle for our main character from the first film, kind-hearted labor supervisor to hardened POW witnessing the same BS he saw on the other side years before. It's also here that Kobayashi strikes his toughest and most absorbing ground with the socio-political content. Now it's not simply questioning the methods of Japanese, but socialism vs. fascism, whatever either really may be, how terrible things become between two different peoples in a room without a right connection (in a great scene we see Kaji on a quasi-trial for sabotage and his interpreter intentionally botches it up), and, equally tragic, the betrayal of ones own people as seen by Tange episode.

This goes without saying the last fifteen minutes or strike the deepest chords, but the entire picture is just about perfect by accumulating all that's happened to and around Kaji, and not losing any of the meaning in the themes while at the same time keeping it personal, intimate cinema. You might even laugh a few times from the moments of relief by the supporting characters, and Kobayashi even navigates those little dialogs and gallows humor cleverly in the midst of such horror and drama. But, really, it's the Tatsuya Nakadai show. This and Ran are his best performances, bar-none, and particularly here he's able to express Kaji's growth as a leader, as a torn conscience, as a rejector of anything regarding duty and service to country just to survive, as a now somewhat accepted killer (the one murder of the Russian guard keeps at him for a while), and as a lost soul unable to get back to his old life with Machiko. It's an incredible transformation over the course of ten hours that marks him as one of the greats to come out of his country.

Overall, the trilogy is an immense, overwhelming feat of intelligent, sorrowful film-making that laments what is capable in the worst of men while giving us a hero to root for, for all his misgivings and eventual flaws, and to finally see as an essentially good and moral person becoming whole on the Japanese side of World War 2. A+

A real gem.

[crubpni · 10/10 · 21 January 2020]

This trilogy gives you a glimpse of what reality is like in times when the individual who follows his own moral compass gets crushed by the multitude because they have neglected theirs. Contrary to popular belief, there's no glory in being the crucified, dying for our sins. We all want Kaji to triumph, but Kaji cannot triumph alone. If we don't ALL do our best to be Kaji, we don't deserve Kaji.

The Condition Of Human Self Delusion

[Theo Robertson · 8/10 · 17 October 2012]

Watching part three of THE HUMAN CONDITION made me notice how much Kaji has changed as a character . The first two films have the character as an over the top parody of a noble everyman that no sensible person can relate to whilst here Kaji is someone who is totally believable in his pragmatic approach to survival . So much so that you'll find yourself asking why on earth the screenwriters and director couldn't have portrayed him in a far more subtle manner in the preceding films ? It's not so much as character development but character over-development that the first two movies suffered from

Still the first half of A Soldier's Prayer is probably the most compelling part of the trilogy . The Japanese have been defeated in Manchuria and try to find a way to escape to Japan with the only alternatives being a Soviet gulag or a lynching from the Chinese. Watching this segment instantly reminded me of the post apocalypse genre like DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS , or 28 DAYS LATER but instead of murderous plants or hyperactive zombies the survivors are fighting against other human beings . It mirrors factual history and despite the real life atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese during the war it's nigh on impossible not to be totally compelled by the dilemmas facing Kaji and his men

The screenplay also deserves great credit for pulling the rug out from under the audience . Throughout the running time you're always expecting Kaji to run in to someone from his past - a belligerent antagonist from the first two films or the socialist deserter or pretty young nurse from the second film or perhaps even his wife Michiko but none of this actually happens with the only reunion being with a relatively minor character

The film ends with a sequence that is so bleak and downbeat that it will stay with you a lifetime . But this leads to an internal confusion as to what the story is telling us . Think about this : In the first film if Kaji had towed the party line and run the labour camp as he'd been told he would have very likely have found himself on a boat back to Japan . Instead he got conscripted in to the army and ultimately died a lonely death on some tundra . Are the audience being shown a form of death worship where naive idealism and self delusion at making things better for the rest of the species will lead to a noble death ? The message of the film is confused

A Soldier's Prayer continues the breath taking beauty of the previous two films . .Make no mistake .Every single scene is breath taking thanks to its cinematography and framing and a special mention too for the set design . It's a film that owes much to its technical merits and I'd have no hesitation telling everyone in the human race to see it . However after seeing it again I can't say it's the masterpiece I once thought it was since since there's a lack of moral ambiguity to the self righteous , self deluded , idealistic hero . People you love often let you down and it's the same with cinema

The End of Kaji's Journey

[claudio_carvalho · 10/10 · 14 February 2013]

The Japanese troops are defeated by the Soviets and Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai) heads with three survivors to South Manchurian expecting to meet his wife. Along their crossing through the enemy line in the Manchurian land, other Japanese survivors join Kaji's group, but they need to fight against the Chinese militias and the Soviets.

When they reach a Japanese village with women and one old man, a militia arrives in the place and Kaji and his men surrender to the Soviet to spare the women. The POWs are sent to a labor work camp and Kaji sees no difference between the treatment of the Japanese fascists and the Soviet communists, in which principles Kaji believed. He decides to escape from the camp to meet his beloved Michiko again.

"The Human Condition – Parts V & VI" is the last sequel of the heartbreaking anti-war masterpiece by Masaki Kobayashi. The story is impressively realistic and magnificently shot with top-notch camera work, giving the sensation of a documentary. I have seen many powerful movies about war, such as "Der Untergang", "Taegukgi hwinalrimyeo", "La Battaglia di Algeri", "Paths of Glory" and "Apocalypse Now" among others. But "The Human Condition" is certainly the most scathing antiwar movie that I have seen and I did not feel the 574 minutes running time in a black-and-white movie spoken in Japanese, Mandarin and Russian with English subtitles.

It is impressive to see the treatment spent by the fascist Japanese soldiers for the rookies and how Kaji grows-up and learns how his idealistic concept of communism is shattered when he becomes a POW and swaps his initial position of supervisor to the one of prisoner. The hopeless conclusion fits perfectly to this masterpiece and shows that in times of war, people are far from the condition for being human to survive. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Must see.

[ms-42106 · 9/10 · 26 October 2020]

Saw all parts in 4 days. A masterpiece of Art. Must see film. 🌲🌲🌲

personality effecting movie

[ibts12 · 10/10 · 20 March 2012]

i had listened a lot about this movie but was unlucky that i had not seen this. This is a fascinating movie and i think that i am still feeling effect of the movie on my personality. I never imagined that even a movie can effect someone so much,and also there is feeling that what should be an excellent human condition ( as shown by Kaji and his wife) and what is prevailing human condition as we see around us. I have deep regards for all the crew of the movie who provided us a worth seeing and personality effecting movie. I dedicate all I have learned to the director of movie Masaki Kobayashi.

I have given the movie 10/10 because i find no point to deduct even a single mark. I recommend all serious movie viewers to kindly must see this movie and try to learn from it.

not the gangster slash-em-up buddy film you thought it would be

[errandjones · 5 May 2004]

If you have any remote interest in film go see this right away. Don't bother watching if you are too scared to attempt the entire 10 hours in one sitting. It's worth it and then some. The actor playing Kaji was terrific and each part turns out better than the last (everything really, the acting/camera work... all the bells and whistles just sound better the further in you get). It definitely struck me as something Adolfas Mekas would totally dig, which says a lot. This is a must see. If you decide to bring the wife and kids (or husband and mother-in-law or what- have-you) just be warned: this movie involves a fair amount of human suffering, on and off the screen. -Ed Hellman.

Tonal problems.

[aureliofindunio · 7/10 · 23 December 2020]

Technically, is perfect, and a good movie overall. But... I read Left-wing critics at the time critized the novel this is based on because of its "Sentimental Humanism". After watching this movie I think I cam see what they ment. I hadn't caught unto the fact that the director wanted to make a Socialist movie vilifying a specific regime (or that this movie could be considered that kind of movie at all). The previous movies always were critical of Imperial Japan, yes, but it was never the struggle of one group against another (by example, socialists against imperials), just the struggle of humanity against inhumanity. The ending of this film abandons this more humanistic struggle entirely, and simply depicts the tragic effects a certain ideology or regime can have on an individual. It is just so weird that after so much talk about the virtues of fraternity, hope, standing for one's ideals and don't giving up, the film ends with such a tragic tone. It makes me think about the tittle. What am I to conclude about the Human Condition? According to this movie, apparently it's nothing special, but sure is better than those fitlhy capitalist Pigs and their ideology! At least I didn't get that impression in the last five parts. It's the ending realistic? Yeah. Do all films need a happy ending? Of course not. But it really generates some serious tonal and discursive dissonance within itself, and within the previous 4 parts.

Parts III & IV: Barracks Wars. Parts V & VI: Painfully Disappointing.

[net_orders · 4/10 · 31 July 2016]

Parts III & IV. Viewed on DVD and Streaming. Film = barely five (5) stars; restoration = ten (10) stars; cinematography = nine (9) stars; score = three (3) stars. Director Masaki Kobayashi's Parts III and IV of the overly-contrived adventures of a fish-out-of-water protagonist. This time out, Kobayashi pits a college Communist against the Japanese Army in Manchuria! A masochistic photo play that seems bent on driving home the message that war is hell, but the brutality of gang wars in army barracks is just as bad (or even worse!). It is painfully (no pun) obvious that the Director is trying to squeeze as many vignettes from the source material (a massive contemporary novel) as his production budget will allow into the movie, since one micro dramatic event randomly follows another (usually bridged with fade outs). The result is that Part III is way too long and just plain boring. Part III is also crammed with repetitious bouts of face slapping and beatings (mostly in the barracks) which seems to comprise the major part of training for new recruits. (A lot of the heavy-duty face slapping looks to be real--and stunt actors do not appear to have been used!) Part IV (also loaded with face slapping) is less than exciting until the Soviets declare war and launch an impressive tank attack against a pitifully trained and under equipped Japanese Army (the Japanese are shown to lack war machinery, machine guns, automatic rifles, and even ammunition--but they do have shovels and know how to slap faces!). Once again, Kobayashi fills the screen with many hard-to-swallow oddities beyond the usual David and Goliath plot. My favorites include: the many face-slapping riffs on classic Three Stooges' shorts including slapping Army nurses; frequent dialog references to "The Front" which is never defined and begin way before the Soviet declaration of war and their invasion; near drowning in a puddle-sized "lake"; the extraordinary power of ancient Confucian principles (of absolute obedience to higher authority) to prevent well-deserved mutinies (perhaps not a real oddity?); and the ludicrous power of romantic love which causes a bride to leave college in Tokyo, move to a Manchurian pit mine, and STAY THERE after her husband has been drafted! Acting is perfunctory and often melodramatic, since the majority of lines are delivered by shouting (which quickly becomes tedious). Characters are often hard to differentiate except in close-ups (which seem under used), as they are costumed and made-up to look pretty much indistinguishable in medium and long shots. Cinematography (wide screen, black and white) and scene lighting are excellent. Restoration is excellent. Subtitles/translations are OK. Aside from the opening credits, the score seems to have been recycled from the initial film and is injected when least appropriate. A scene distraction rather than an enhancer. Not particularly recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

Parts V & VI. Viewed on DVD and Streaming. Film = three (3) stars; restoration = ten (10) stars; cinematography = nine (9) stars; sound (remastered) = six (6) stars; score = three (3) stars. Director Masaki Kobayashi's Parts V and VI of an overly-contrived (and overly long) WW II epoch fail to reverse the spiral of increasing tediousness engendered with each succeeding installment. In these last two, the male protagonist leads (sort of) a ragtag assortment of army and civilian survivors wandering around the landscape (or around a remote Soviet POW camp) and going nowhere in post-war Manchuria. Seems fitting for a film that essentially goes nowhere (and is very, very slow in getting there!). Elements repetitiously sprinkled into the overall scenario include: the impact of imminent starvation; groups of Japanese circumstantial comfort women (who lost their husbands during the war); Japanese bandits (remnants of the Army); well-armed Chinese farmers out for revenge; and Soviet Army units rounding up Japanese men for post-war POW slave-labor camps. Part V is grossly padded with events/happenings the ragtag group encounters as it trudges about. And seems to end only when most/all of the elements from the original source material (a six-volume novel) have been covered. In addition, it includes many flashbacks using scenes from previous episodes to break the monotony and help with the padding. Part VI also contains a fair amount of wandering-around padding (especially at the end) and is loaded (likely do to the original source material) with increasingly irritating voice-over homilies/mini-gospels) about the politics of life and romantic love (the voice of the protagonist's wife keeps popping up on the sound tract with the same verbiage). Russian line readings by non-Japanese sound like Russian (or pseudo Russian) is being spoken. The amusing phonetically spoken Mandarin by Japanese actors is reduce to just a few lines this time (but there is some "interesting" phonetically spoken Russian). Kobayashi again fills the screen with many hard-to-swallow oddities beyond the usual David and Goliath plot (this time it's a tale about a text-book Communist taking on the management of a Soviet POW camp). Among my favorite oddities: Japanese troops abandoned and cut off from outside communications still manage to be well informed about current WW II events in Europe and the Pacific; the total absence of comfort women portrayed as sex slaves; no one has a compass; hacking through "jungle vegetation" so anemic that using a Swiss Army knife would be overkill; and Soviet soldiers singing in perfect multi-part harmony. Cinematography (wide screen, black and white) and scene lighting are excellent. Restoration is excellent. Subtitles can be overly long and flash by too quickly (which is why there are rewind and pause buttons on your remote). Some Russian dialog (including singing) is not translated. Same for several signs/banners. Aside from the excellent opening credits music, the score acts like a hammer and treats scenes as if they are all nails (music editing misalignment is the norm)! Sound has been remastered to provide some surround-like effects which is not all that successful (especially for characters speaking from the sides of or off the screen. Not recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN

devastating brutality

[roundtablet · 10/10 · 15 June 2018]

The third and final part of "The Human Condition" series is the most brutal, breathtaking and deeply disturbing movie of the three. All the beating you saw in the second part cant even come close to how physically, but especially psychologically brutal and disturbing this movie can be. This movie ultimatly playes with the idea that no matter how much of a good person you are, which in the case of our main protagonist, Kaji was shown throughout the last 2 movies, you will always been judged by steriotypes and clichee rather than on your actions and what you have been going through. Is it right to torture and treat people the same way they treated others, even if they have been forced by the military and the zeitgeist of the moment? Is it morally justifiable? This is something everyone has to answer for themself, this movie just shows you this idea in an objective manner not really taking any sides.

With watching this series Masaki Kobayashi, finally made the case for him being the best japanese director of the last century in my opinion. And it also made the case for Tatsuya Nakadai being the best actor of the last century. The emotions this man can convey with this performance by far surpass anything I have seen from any other japanese actor of the last century. The character development Kaji endured throughout the series but especially through this final part was written perfectly and absolutely believably portrayed.

The grand finale

[nickenchuggets · 10/10 · 15 November 2021]

Last but definitely not least, we arrive at the final entry in The Human Condition series. I will begin by saying that it's typically very unusual to have a second sequel that actually works, but the truth is, this third movie might actually be a huge upgrade over the other two. Make no mistake, the first two movies in the trilogy are both extremely well made. 10 out of 10 without a doubt. The reason why A Soldier's Prayer might be better than them is because it brings an end to Kaji's long and difficult journey. Some might be disappointed with how he ends up, but the entire point of these movies is to be non-stop drama. There's few laughable moments, if any. Picking up where the previous movie left off, A Soldier's Prayer starts with Kaji still being stranded behind russian lines in northern china following the crushing blow the USSR has delivered to japanese forces in the area. Kaji manages to find some other survivors who have managed to escape soviet patrols, and he teams up with them. As they venture south, they come across some civilians who decide to follow Kaji. This leads to a nightmare of a situation, since they become lost in a heavily wooded area and have very little food. Some of them can't resist eating the poisonous mushrooms that are present here. Eventually, Kaji and the others come across a house which has an ample supply of food, but they are ambushed by chinese guerilla fighters. After managing to lose them in a wheat field that was set ablaze, Kaji finds out that some nearby japanese soldiers are planning to fight for Chiang Kai Shek, the leader of chinese nationalist forces and rival to Mao Zedong, the ambitious communist who wants to see china become a socialist state. The Soviet Union's obvious course of action is to support Mao's army, as Stalin knows communist china will be a powerful ally against america. With the help of these newly found soldiers, Kaji and them manage to kill a small force of patrolling russians. Kaji and the others are tempted to take their weapons, but they leave them where they are. Soon, the men arrive at a small village, which appears safe enough, only to learn that soviet soldiers are preparing to attack the position. Rather than subject himself and others to another onslaught, Kaji gives up when they arrive. The way the soviets treat him in captivity has him wishing that he didn't. The russians view japanese prisoners of war as the scum of the earth, similar to how they saw german ones. Kaji and the others are sent to a freezing cold labor camp in the middle of nowhere, and the japanese officers who were supposed to be on Kaji's side are now friends with the russian officers who run the camp. Men are beaten, starved, and brutalized for not working hard enough, which is ironically what japan was doing to the chinese in manchuria. Just like the second film, Kaji is suspected of something, in this case sabotage, and is brought before a soviet officer to explain his motives. Kaji can't speak russian, so his only means of communicating are through an interpreter, who lies to his comrade and tells him Kaji is saying disrespectful things about the USSR. With his life in the camp continuing to get worse, Kaji finally decides to escape, stopping on the way to kill a corrupt officer who was responsible for mistreating one of his friends. Kaji doesn't know where he's going at this point, or even if he'll ever see japan again. He tries to stay determined, but he doesn't get much further. The seemingly endless, freezing landscape becomes his downfall, and Kaji collapses in the snow. Kaji is no more, but he never lost hope that he would make it back to japan and his wife Michiko somehow. I've said this for the previous two films as well, but I'll still repeat myself here: this movie hits the ball out of the park. Like always, Nakadai's acting is one of the best aspects of the experience, alongside the history that the storyline is intertwined with. World war 2 is now over, and it's the beginning of the cold war. We see in the movie how the japanese left in china are willing to fight alongside them to stop Mao's communist plans. This seems unthinkable because the japanese had abused chinese laborers liberally in the first film, but now, they're willing to stand together against the larger threat of communism. This movie, just like the last two, is filled with iconic and memorable scenes, such as the part where Kaji witnesses the soviet guards in the camp singing katyusha, and is reminded that they're actual humans. The part that has him surrendering to the russians as they approach the village is also one of the best, since it shows how even he realizes that it's pointless to go on. Large swaths of northern china are now under Stalin's rule, and walking for hours on end to escape the soviets is futile. While I thought A Soldier's Prayer is a nearly perfect movie, I didn't really like how Michiko doesn't make a return. This is sad because it makes you realize the last time Kaji saw his wife was in the second movie, and he will never see her again now. Still, this last entry brings a sad and extremely powerful ending to one of the best movie series in history. It's been a long ride, but The Human Condition as a whole is a masterfully done trilogy. It is ridiculously long, but the acting, characters, and tense atmosphere of all three films more than compensates for this. If you're like me and enjoy world war 2 history, these 3 movies are incredibly important because they tell tragic stories from the japanese perspective.

Powerful

[gbill-74877 · 9/10 · 13 October 2021]

The last film in Kobayashi's epic trilogy picks up with Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai) and a couple of his buddies trying to make their way through war-torn Manchuria and back to what they consider home. Their unit has been wiped out and while they're not sure if Japan has formally surrendered, they're well aware the its defeat is imminent. They are in danger from the Soviets who control the region, as well as armed peasant militia groups. They come across scattered Japanese civilians and try to help them as best they can, but struggle because food is incredibly scarce, and tough, no-win choices have to be made. They also come across small Japanese military who are attempting to continue the fight, which they want no part of.

As in the other films, the emotions are heart-wrenching, and this is one of the more powerful anti-war films you'll find. The cinematography is fantastic, the production quality is high, and the pace of the storytelling moves along well enough that the 190-minute runtime didn't feel like a burden, or as overwhelming as it may appear. That in itself is an achievement, considering the somber subject of the film.

Notable points for me:

• The recognition of rape during wartime, and in a broader sense, how vulnerable people like the elderly or farmers are forced to endure great hardship - and this comes from both enemy and friendly forces. The image of the women dumped out of a moving truck after having been raped is brutal.

• The thoughts of some of the characters being revealed in interior monologues. Kaji is haunted by the people he's seen die, the trauma he's endured, and the enemy soldiers he's killed, which he likens to murder. The flashbacks to earlier images are powerful reminders that people can't just walk out of these experiences unchanged. We also get a glimpse into the minds of his comrades, with one man thinking it would have been better had he died an honorable death on the battlefield, and another fearing how it will look for him, a superior to Kaji, being led by him. Even under such duress, the ego and concern about hierarchy spoke volumes about the male mind.

• The irony of ending up in a Soviet work camp, forced to do hard labor with minimal food, bringing the story full circle to when the Japanese had Manchurians in a similar camp in part one. One nation is on top one moment, oppressing another, and then the tide turns. We see this also in the Soviets proudly listening to their national anthem in the work camp, clearly patriotic and with a giant image of Stalin behind the commander, similar to the nationalism in Japan before the war.

• Similarly, the discussion between soldiers that the Soviets will not stay in Manchuria, which will result in a civil war between Chiang Kai-Shek and the communist Chinese under Mao Zedung. There is an implication that war begets war, and the cycle never seems to end.

• The disillusionment in one's ideals - and I don't mean the Japanese soldiers becoming disillusioned over the 'divine' Emperor's militarism, since that was present from the beginning of the story (though a younger soldier does go through an arc in that regard). I mean Kaji's communist sympathies getting a reality check when he finds that his Soviet captors have a "smug and selfish" attitude about them, which his friend chalks up to them taking a "Soviet-first policy," in stark contrast to communism's ideal of the worldwide proletarian.

• The attempts at communicating with the Soviet officers reflect this disillusionment, and also show how things lost in translation prevent communication. Kaji is at the mercy of a bad translator, and can't express the simple needs of his men or his personal views. Ironically, he's labeled a fascist by the Soviets, which is completely at odds with his beliefs.

• Life is broken down into its most elemental form, the need to eat, and will to survive. We see people desperate from hunger from the beginning of this film all the way through to the end. Pushed to extreme conditions, people become selfish, and sadly, empathy is scarce. Kaji tries to navigate these waters as best he can, treating people with dignity and holding on to his ideals, but there are limits to everything. One of the Japanese soldiers has become a collaborator to the Soviets, overseeing the prisoners like a kapo would for the Nazis, and contributes to the death of one of his friends. Kaji shows him no mercy as he beats him to death with a chain, and while there is something cathartic about that moment, it's such a contrast to the man we saw at the beginning of the first film - and sad to me that I felt myself urging him on.

• The ending, my god. Kaji tries to run away from the senseless violence of the world, realizing ideologies turn into fuel for warfare and oppression, and wants simply to return to the only thing that makes any sense in life - love - which is something that struck me at my very heart. With surreal imagery, Kobayashi gives us an ending that is extraordinary and indelible. He wanted it to be. The only way to avoid the cycle of war from repeating is to learn from the past, and that's what his trilogy is about.

The End of All Things

[OttoVonB · 10/10 · 8 March 2013]

And the epic saga continues….

Read this only after the reviews for parts one and two. There won't be any spoilers but the review will make more sense.

Having survived the near-total extermination of his unit at the end of Part II, Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai) wanders through war-torn China with a group of hopeless survivors. Everyone they encounter deals with defeat and despair in their own way.

It all comes to an end with style, though that style is bleaker and more episodic than either of the previous chapters. The great tragedy of Kaji's life is that the closest he comes to being free of the horrors of war, the further he is – geographically speaking – from the only thing he truly wants: reunion with his loving wife. This detail gives the film, in many ways your standard squad war film, an important extra dimension it would never have had as a stand-alone piece.

After about 10 hours in 3 films, Kobayashi has given us a POW drama, a character study about duty VS dignity, a war film that crushed Full Metal Jacket, a roaming war-set nightmare that rivals Apocalypse Now, all wrapped up in an uncompromisingly humanist masterpiece. You will feel exhausted by the end of this, physically – 10 hours of straight cinema-scope horrors takes a toll on the eyes – and mentally. But it is undoubtedly one of the mind-expanding works of film, and one of the greatest tragedies ever put to the screen.

If you'd ever wondered, now you know what cinema's answer to Hamlet looks like.

Depressing and realistic.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 3 April 2012]

This is the third film in "The Human Condition" trilogy--a series of films that follow the very idealistic Kaji through WWII. At first, he believes strongly in the goodness and value of ALL people--putting him at odds with the xenophobic Japanese who see non-Japanese as subhuman. In the first film, Kaji is sent to oversee production at a forced labor camp where his humanitarian treatment of prisoners runs afoul of the militarists. By the end of the film, Kaji is not only removed from this job but inducted into the military.

In the second film, he's in boot camp for much of the film and is frequently brutalized for his socialist views. By the end of the episode, it's the final days of the war and most of his unit is wiped out by Russian troops.

Here in the third film, it picks up with Kaji and two other soldiers wandering about--trying to find food and civilization. Along the way, they meet up with other Japanese on the run and through the course of the film, most of the Japanese lose their humanity--thinking only of themselves and their baser instincts. However, Kaji is STILL an idealist--but he's finding it harder and harder to stick to these values as those around him degenerate like animals.

Unfortunately, after struggling with hunger and exhaustion to try to find his way home, Kaji and his men are captured by the Russians and are sent to a work camp. There, in an ironic twist, Kaji learns firsthand what his workers in the first movie experienced. He's beaten, starved and treated like dirt. His socialist philosophy is finally broken when he realizes that Stalinist Russia is NOT a friend to the people--and it sucks just as much as any other lousy nation. He then escapes, wanders about and dies! Ultimately, the three films are about 10 hours of length and are an indictment of both the Japanese militarism as well as debunking the notion that humanity is universal. No, instead, war is useless and folks degenerate to their basest instincts. It's all very, very depressing and jaded--which isn't the least bit surprising for Japan during the 1950s--when lots of other great anti-war films debuted about the same subject matter--such as "Burmese Harp" and "Fires on the Plain". "The Human Condition" is great for its thoroughness and style, though I think the other two films are better since they are more concise--and, if anything, MORE negative in their depiction of war. Well worth seeing---just make sure you have a HUGE block of time to see it.

Contemporary Kraftsmanship

[holytrousers · 10/10 · 24 May 2012]

anyone who is seriously interested in understanding what's wrong with the "human" should watch this excellent piece of art. Tatusuya nakadai is delivering here an astonish performance.

Kobayashi is definitely one of the greatest directors and offers precision and coherence to this trilogy. Music is obviously an tremendous emotional experience. There is no necessity to write much, the movie speaks for itself as long as one understands the movements and rhythms conveyed through the subtle evolution of the main character. A long trilogy worth watching till the end in the vein of harakiri (seppuku). PS. understanding our history seems to be of great importance, especially in the actual political context of unrest, what happened and is happening in the arab world is a very important issue, violence unfortunately still prevails.

abolishing authority of any kind (y compris nationalism, religions, traditions, ego etc.) seems the only way out.

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

[mevmijaumau · 25 October 2014]

The Human Condition (Ningen no jôken) is a 9,5 hour long epic film trilogy directed by Masaki Kobayashi, based on the six volume novel by Junpei Gomikawa. The trilogy stays true to the novel's composition by being divided into six parts, meaning that each of the three installments are split in two parts, in between which are intermissions. Both parts in the first film begin with the same opening credits sequence, showing us some stoneworks portraying dramatic imagery (the similar intro opens all three films). The three movies, each long 3 hours or more, are called No Greater Love, Road to Eternity and A Soldier's Prayer.

Okay, now, I enjoyed the first film despite some historical inaccuracies. I liked the second movie but it didn't leave much of an impact on me. But this one, A Soldier's Prayer, is just brilliant.

Unlike the first two films, ASP is much less repetitive and a lot more diverse stuff goes on. We follow Kaji on his long path to his wife Michiko. First he tries to flee the war zone accompanied by other soldiers and civilians, then they encounter Chinese forces, from which they escape through a burning wheat field. They stumble upon an encampment which gets besieged by the Soviets, after which Kaji ends up as a worker in a Red Army camp, mirroring his position in a Manchurian work camp from the first film. He escapes and meets his doom in a snowy outback, where he dies out of hunger or exhaustion.

That's basically the plot, although a lot of other things happen and a lot of characters are introduced. Throughout the film, you feel 100% immersed in every obstacle Kaji faces and that feeling never lets up. Tatsuya Nakadai gives us one of the best, most believable performances I've ever come across (and I don't even think this is his best).

Kobayashi: "When I made The Human Condition, most actors at that time were either of prewar or mid-war generations. I was looking for a person who could convey the feeling of the new generation. Nakadai was able to convey this new, strong, energetic side of postwar youth."

Of course the supporting cast is great too, and there are even some big names accompanying the unknown portion of the cast. There's Kyoko Kishida as Ryuko, Chishu Ryu as the man in the encampment and Hideko Takamine as the unnamed woman who's also situated there.

The cinematography is even better than in its two predecessors; some shots from this movie you'll remember for a long, long time - Kaji standing by a huge field with scavengers flying around, him being interrogated at the Soviet work camp HQ and finally getting stranded in the middle of nowhere for example. It's interesting to note that the first two films begin with a snowy scene, while the third movie ends with one.

The trilogy doesn't take any sides as far as nations themselves are concerned and even portrays the Japanese military in an unbelievably negative light for the time it was released. It's an universal anti-war film that brilliantly concludes the trilogy. Kobayashi also argued against the militaristic system while he was in the army, which must be why he later said: "I am Kaji."

Kobayashi: "I spent four years making The Human Condition. While making it, I received many letters from people requesting me not to let Kaji die in the end. I had considered that possibility, but to me, his death was actually a resurrection. He had to die there. With his death, he lives in the minds of people for a long time, as a symbol of the hope that we can eradicate the human tragedy of war."

Kaji's beliefs are often challenged and inverted throughout the trilogy. According to the director, he said he wanted to portray the tragic dual nature that the Japanese people experienced back then.

It's a long journey but well worth it

[Marwan-Bob · 9/10 · 10 March 2019]

The Human Condition 10 Hours Long 10 Hours Deep, Without a Doubt the Greatest Anti-War Statement Ever Made... What A Journey.

Some thoughts on the whole trilogy

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 9/10 · 25 August 2020]

Kept a few brief diary style entries after each film in this trilogy. Watched over the course of 4 days:

Part 1: Very long but also very, very good. Acting is fantastic, it's shot beautifully, and there are a few hard-hitting, surprisingly tense sequences. Gives the viewer a lot to think about and feel, but it is quite slow-moving, and I feel like I had to be in a particular mood to enjoy it. Thankfully my patience wasn't too tested, and I look forward to finishing the trilogy off within the next week or so.

Part 2: Not quite as good as the first part, but close. The cinematography and acting (especially by lead Tatsuya Nakadai) are fantastic, and it ends really well, with a battle sequence that ranks among the cruellest I've ever seen in a movie. There are parts that are truly patience-testing though, and with fewer compelling characters than the first part, a more repetitive storyline, and similar moral dilemmas (again, until the strong final half hour or so), I will say that this was a very minor disappointment, only insofar as it not quite matching up to the excellent first part for me. Very much looking forward to watching Part 3 tomorrow night though.

Part 3: I'm sure my appreciation for this trilogy will only grow in time, and despite the grim subject matter, slow pace, and long length, I can see myself rewatching the whole thing eventually- that's a definite testament to its quality. So why 8/10? It hit me hard, but as a finale, maybe I somehow wanted it to hit harder. And slow films are a challenge for me sometimes. All three films in this trilogy were slow, but in an obviously purposeful way. And slow didn't necessarily equal boring here either. Challenging to sit through? Maybe a little. Dull? Not really. It's also one of the best looking black and white films I've ever seen, and Tatsuya Nakadai's lead performance might be one of the best in film history (the fact that he gets 9.5 hours to go through a huge character arc certainly helps, mind you).

Overall ranking: Part 1 > Part 3 > Part 2, imo, which is coincidentally the same way I'd rank the Lord of the Rings trilogy haha

Kobayashi's masterpiece a great ensemble piece as well as vehicle for Tatsuya Nakadai

[ok_english_bt · 9/10 · 14 November 2019]

It's hard to add anything to what others have written, only that Masaki Kobayashi's epic trilogy 'The Human Condition' is quite a marathon at nearly 10 hours, so you'd be well advised to pace yourself. I found it worth pausing anyway, just to reflect on all the things I'd seen in chief protagonist Private Kaji's harrowing journey. The film never shies away from difficult moments and showing the terrible effects of wartime. I don't remember many parts where the character played by Tatsuya Nakadai isn't either in shot or watching events as they unfold uncomfortably from his point of view. This is very much a painful journey into self as well as a physical happening, as the private faces insurmountable odds and conflicts to his humanitarian beliefs.

What impressed me most about 'The Human Condition' was the quality of the acting and film-making throughout, Kobayashi must have had absolute commitment from everyone involved as he tried to faithfully re-enact the events of Junpei Gumikawa's great novel. For me, the director's's work here is the ultimate 'slowburn', events unfolding at their own pace, steadily and powerfully!

Any highlighting of parts is bound to feel personal, possibly arbitrary, but I did find Part II 'Road to Eternity' rather dull and disengaging as Kaji works through problems related to the barracks where he's stationed. Part III 'The Soldier's Prayer' on the other hand opens the story up as the soldier flees the warzone in Manchuria with remnants of the Japanese Kwantung army he fought alongside. It's the classic odyssey tale as Kaji aims to get home to find his wife and get his old life back. He naturally falls into the leadership role to help his fellow deserters survive, and they face many adventures and ordeals on the war-strewn way. The much wider ensemble cast of characters lend the story gravitas and interest (harking back to Part I 'No Greater Love' when Kaji worked as a labour camp supervisor amongst the enslaved Chinese). We ponder the human condition now with a much wider viewpoint as it unravels in the fallout of war: famine, POW's, refugees, hardship, chaos, cruelty and ultimately great disillusionment ...

The strains of human existence are there for all to see in Kobayashi's powerful critique of war, really no winners in this epic struggle ... the ending becomes inevitable!

The Human Condition: A Soldier's Prayer - Part 2 of the Trilogy

[arthur_tafero · 8/10 · 10 January 2022]

This second installment of the massive 9 hour plus trilogy of The Human Condition continues to be a heroic struggle against the negative fates of life that one is sometimes given. Kobayoshi not only provides us with expert direction, but the screenplay as well for all three installments of this tragic trilogy. In this segment, we see the stoic Kaji fall from his lofty position in the Japanese work camp to the lowly position of a PFC in the Japanese army. Now separated from his loving wife, he must endure several hardships of war, as the tide begins to turn against the Japanese. Almost as brilliant as the first installment.