Ningen no joken 2 (3+4) / The Human Condition 2: The Road to Eternity

Masaki Kobayashi: 人間の條件 / The Human Condition 2 = 第三部 望郷篇 / Part 3: Longing for Home + 第四部 戦雲篇 / Part 4: War Clouds

人間の條件 / The Human Condition 2

第三部 望郷篇 / Part 3: Longing for Home 

第四部 戦雲篇 / Part 4: War Clouds

Ningen no jôken: Dai 3 bu – Bôkyô hen + Ningen no jôken: Dai 4 bu – Sen'un hen / The Human Condition 2: The Road to Eternity / [Ihmisen kohtalo 2: Tie ikuisuuteen] / [Människans lott 2: Vägen till evigheten]. 

    JP 1959. CAST: Tatsuya Nakadai (Kaji), Michiyo Aratama (Michiko), Keiji Sada (Kageyama), Hideo Kisho (Kudo), Jun Tatara (Hino). 179'. Print: Japan Foundation, with English subtitles.

General comments and credits: see my blog remarks on Ningen no joken 1. Besides Candide, one could compare this story with Don Quijote. Epic grandeur and scope in this account of sadism and the rare nobility of spirit.

Memorable in this part: [3] the Kwangtung Army at -32 grades Celsius – bullying in the barracks – [the feeling of the extreme chill is not conveyed] – "Reds" blacklisted by the Kenpeitai under especially grim bullying – Kaji still the defender of the weakest – punished by the hardest duty – Kaji meets for the last time Michiko, who has come to visit him – the long marches, the endurance of Kaji – the weak Obara commits suicide under extreme humiliation (this may have influenced Kubrick in Full Metal Jacket) – Shinjo escapes during a prairie fire – Kaji and the bullying officer almost drown in the mire – Kaji catches marsh fever, the bully dies of it – the biggest laugh in the whole 10-hour picture: the head nurse of the military hospital is as big a bully as the worst barrack sergeants – true human beings always find kindred spirits: the friendly nurse and Kaji are both expelled as their innocent friendship (qf. They Were Expendable) is revealed.

[4] – Kaji gets to train a platoon of grown-up recruits at the late stage of the war – Kaji is humiliated, hit and harassed by the veteran under-officers – Okinawa has fallen – "it's un-Japanese to consider a loss" - pride and face don't mean anything to me now – Kaji is punished by sending him to the trench-digging detail – Soviet attack at the Manchurian border – still digging trenches – in the area that is due to suffer heavy casualties – Kaji's warning of 15 Soviet tanks is not believed – Don't be a coward – Never give up – full attack of the Red Army – Make every bullet count – Long live the Japanese Empire – almost the whole unit is wiped out dead by the Red Army – only Kaji and a couple others survive, suffering war madness – Is anyone alive?