The Human Condition (film series)

The Human Condition
DVD cover art for the Criterion Collection DVD release
Directed by	Masaki Kobayashi
Produced by	Shigeru Wakatsuki (I-III) Masaki Kobayashi (II, III)
Written by	Masaki Kobayashi (I-III) Zenzo Matsuyama (I-III) Koichi Inagaki (III) Junpei Gomikawa (novel)
Starring	Tatsuya Nakadai Michiyo Aratama
Music by	Chuji Kinoshita
Cinematography	Yoshio Miyajima
Edited by	Keiichi Uraoka
Production company	Ninjin Club
Distributed by	Shochiku
Release date	1959–1961
Running time	579 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese Mandarin Russian

The Human Condition (人間の條件, Ningen no jōken^?) is a Japanese epic film trilogy made between 1959 and 1961, based on the six-volume novel published from 1956 to 1958 by Junpei Gomikawa. It was directed by Masaki Kobayashi and stars Tatsuya Nakadai. The trilogy follows the life of Kaji, a Japanese pacifist and socialist, as he tries to survive in the totalitarian and oppressive world of World War II-era Japan. Altogether, as a single film it is 9 hours, 47 minutes long, not including intermissions, making it one of the longest fiction films ever made.

The Human Condition follows the journey of the well-intentioned, yet naive Kaji who transitions from being a labor camp supervisor to an Imperial Army soldier and eventual Soviet POW. Constantly trying to rise above a corrupt system, Kaji time and time again finds his own morals an impediment rather than an advantage.

The first film, No Greater Love (1959), opens with Kaji marrying his sweetheart Michiko despite his misgivings about the future. The couple then move to a large mining operation in Japanese-colonized Manchuria, where Kaji is a labor supervisor assigned to a workforce of Chinese prisoners. He tries and ultimately fails to reconcile his humanistic ideals with the brutal reality of forced labor in an imperial system. The movie ends with him being drafted to military service, in order for his superiors to do away with his disturbing presence at the Labor camp.

In the second film, Road to Eternity (1959), Kaji, having lost his exemption from military service by protecting Chinese prisoners from unjust punishment, has now been conscripted into the Japanese Kwantung Army. Under suspicion of leftist sympathies, Kaji is assigned the toughest duties in his military recruiting class despite his excellent marksmanship and strong barracks discipline. His wife Michiko pleads for understanding in a letter to his commanding officer and later pays Kaji a highly unorthodox visit at his military facility to express her love and solidarity. Kaji considers escape across the front with his friend Shinjo, who is similarly under suspicion due to his brother's arrest for communist activities. Distrusting the idea that desertion will lead to freedom, and faithful to his wife, Kaji ultimately commits to continued military service despite his hardships.