The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)

A Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.

Director:

Masaki Kobayashi

Writers:

Zenzô Matsuyama (screenplay), Masaki Kobayashi (screenplay)

Stars:

Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Chikage Awashima

7 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Kaji
Michiyo Aratama	...	Michiko
Chikage Awashima	...	Tôfuku Kin
Ineko Arima	...	Shunran Yô
Keiji Sada	...	Kageyama
Sô Yamamura	...	Okishima
Akira Ishihama	...	Chin
Kôji Nanbara	...	Kô (as Shinji Nanbara)
Seiji Miyaguchi	...	Kyôritsu Ô
Tôru Abe	...	Watarai Gunsô
Masao Mishima	...	Kuroki Shochô
Eitarô Ozawa	...	Okazaki
Kôji Mitsui	...	Furuya
Akitake Kôno	...	Kôno Taii
Nobuo Nakamura	...	Honsha Buchô

Storyline

In the World War II, the pacifist and humanist Japanese Kaji accepts to travel with his wife Michiko to the tiny Manchurian village Loh Hu Liong to work as supervisor in an iron ore mine to avoid to be summoned to the military service. Kaji works with Okishima (Sô Yamamura) and he implements a better treatment to the laborers and improves the mine production. When the feared Kempetai (The "Military Police Corps", the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945) brings six hundred Chinese POWs to the mine, Kaji negotiates with their leaders expecting them to control their comrades. However the methods of Kaji upset the corrupt system in the site, and the foreman Furuya (Kôji Mitsui) plots a scheme to use the naive Chen (Akira Ishihama) to turn off the electrical power of the barbwire fences to allow the prisoners to escape. When seven prisoners are falsely accused of an attempt of fleeing, a cruel Kempetai sergeant uses his sword to behead the prisoners. When ...

---

Plot Keywords:

japanese | pow | chinese | ore mine | japanese occupation of china | 

---

Taglines:

An extraordinary picture of man's fate and man's hope...

---

Genres:

Drama | History | War

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Tatsuya Nakadai, a marathon screening of the entire nine-and-a-half-hour "Human Condition" trilogy is held once a year in Japan, and he has once or twice attended these screenings, which are always sold out.

---

Goofs

At one point a Japanese guard begins to whip Kao, yet the motions he makes are just a flailing of his arms, visibly missing the actor. Kao retaliates by throwing a rock at the guard, but the rock never strikes the guard. However, the actor playing the guard overreacts as if he has been struck.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Michiko: This isn't like you.
Kaji: Why?
Michiko: You're running away. Don't you want me?
Kaji: Of course I do.
Michiko: And I want you, too. Yet we can't marry-...
Kaji: How many times must I explain?
Michiko: Because you might be called up? I wouldn't care if it was the day after. Of course I'd cry. I'd cry bitterly. But happiness only lies in marrying the one you love.
Kaji: Alright. I'll take you back to my dormitory. You'll stay with me tonight. Alright?
Michiko: Yes, I'll go.
[...]

---

Connections

Spin-off Ningen no jôken (1962)

User Reviews

One of the greatest anti-war movies of all time

Kobayashi's "The Human Condition" is one of a handful of great anti-war movies. While Japanese film has confronted its own crimes of war more than other cinema, I am only familiar with one other Japanese movie which deals directly with the war & the plight of conscientious objectors: Kurosawa's "No Regrets for Our Youth". Many films deal with the futility of war: "Seven Samurai" & "Yojimbo" come immediately to mind. But "Human Condition" takes on the enormity of war, & the means by which everyone becomes complicit in its total corruption. The hero, though a Conscientious Objector, becomes a colonial occupier, an exploiter of slave labor, an employer of a madam who runs a camp of women & girls impressed into prostitution, & generally runs the gamut of crimes against humanity while trying to maintain his virtue & love's beauty.

Parts II & III also explore the brutality of the army toward its own soldiers, & the complete desecration of the ideals of the Russian Revolution & the cruelty of ordinary Chinese villagers.

"The Human Condition" should be ranked with "Grand Illusion", though what could be as lyrical as the Renoir film? If only this were require viewing in all military academies. If only it were required viewing for all lawmakers & the executive. Is that asking too much?

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese Mandarin

Release Date:

14 December 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Human Condition I: No Greater Love

Filming Locations:

Hokkaido, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ninjin Club, Shochiku

Technical Specs

Runtime:

208 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1