Purely Joyful Movie!

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

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

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

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.

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.