The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled of Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army; he revolts against the abusive treatment spent to the recruit Obara that commits suicide; he also sees his friend Shinjô Ittôhei defecting to the Russian border; and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Soviet tanks division.

"The Human Condition – Parts III & IV" is the first sequel of the 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. But maybe the most impressive is to see the treatment of the Japanese military with their soldiers. If they treated their own compatriots with such brutality, imagine how the enemies would be treated? My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

This second entry is subtitled "Road to Eternity," which is apt. Although thirty minutes shorter than the first Human Condition film, this second movie felt much longer and overall less engaging. The entire first half (Part 3 of the series, with each film having two parts) could have been condensed substantially and merged with Part 4. Throughout Part 3, we watch Kaji, our idealistic protagonist, as he deals with the violence and pettiness of military life. Except, he's not fighting the enemy; he's fighting the oppression of the more senior soldiers, who seem to delight in humiliating and physically beating the recruits. We see this over and over again. Although we watch Kaji attempt to live up to his humanistic ideals, the repetitiveness of Part 3 lacks much of the punch of the first movie and instead feels more like watching ninety minutes of hazing.

With Part 4, the movie slowly veers back to the qualities that made Human Condition I so engaging. Sent into the field, Kaji and his men prepare fortifications, receive news of Japan's defeat at Okinawa, and feel the war finally coming to them. Kaji, the pacifist, finds himself leading the riflemen in combat and vowing to stay alive and make it home to his wife, even as the distance between his ideals and his actions seems to grow.

It is these situational conflicts between Kaji's personal beliefs and the circumstances at hand that Human Condition I exploited so effectively, and the latter half of Human Condition II returns to form. It is a shame it takes the movie so very long to get there.

Kaji continues his path to righteousness, his path to herodom, his path to killing evil with kindness and companion for his fellow man. He will always be the guy who shows the other cheek and will take it for his fellow man.

The thing that is so effective from what Kaji does is that he puts up a mirror to what evil is made by his fellow man towards his other fellow man. The first fellow man doesn't like that. The first fellow man doesn't understand where Kajis kindness comes from. Why is he so different?

But it's easy to be Kaji. Just be a human being and act the way you want to be treated by others. That's why Kaji makes an impact. Because he does all this while one of the most horrific periods of human existance was underway.

The Greeks used the theme of purification through suffering. It is, I believe, the central them of The Iliad. Kaji is a classic hero. He is a man of stuff that few are. In the first, he is nearly destroyed by his own ethical being. Seen as an enemy sympathizer (mainly the Chinese) he ignores the platitudes of war and sees it as something humanity doesn't need. Of course, mankind only knows war and makes heroes out of warriors (even if they must die) and glorifies the whole idea of war. In the second part of the trilogy, Kaji has been drafted and is seen as trouble and watched. He is put in charge of a group of mature soldiers (Japan is losing the war and calling middle aged men to fight). He tries to get his superiors to treat recruits with kindness. This really rubs the other soldiers the wrong way and he continues to be a liability to them.

In the latter part of the film, he and his men go into battle. Unfortunately, with the Japanese on the skids, they are attacked by a Russian tank battalion. They are sitting ducks. Kaji continues to exhibit his heroism, even though many of the men have lost their discipline. Yet instead of seeing himself as a hero, he continues to see the evils of war.

Thanks to even just a couple of his works Kobayashi Masaki had already been cemented in my mind as one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live, and upon sitting for 'The human condition' that opinion is only affirmed once again. The first film of the trilogy, 'No greater love,' was stark and sometimes almost unbearable in the difficult gravity of its narrative that so heavily impugns war and the military - but also boasted some of the best writing, direction, and acting that I've ever seen in a title that was altogether exemplary. With the same cast and crew also working on this next portion of the trilogy it's safe to say that I had high expectations, though with a runtime of three hours it may well have again been the case that the picture would take its time to progress to the next level. Sure enough, 'Road to eternity' also begins comparatively softly, but ultimately such stringent dissection is almost beside the point, for this is just as strident in its harsh judgment, if arguably more subtle. Most war films emphasize big action sequences while unthinkingly embracing chest-beating jingoism, toxic masculinity, and sycophantic glorification of the military, and only rare examples are smarter and more thoughtful in approaching the subject matter. Like an even smaller corner of the genre, though this follows in the tradition of exemplars like Abel Gance's 'J'accuse' and Stanley Kubrick's 'Paths of glory' in being unflinching in its unabashedly scorching assessment of the military. In fact, though it starts out more gently, it doesn't take long before the story becomes as ugly as in its predecessor; 'Road to eternity' tackles a slightly different subset of the topic, but is just as fierce, resulting in a feature that is both wonderfully compelling and absorbing as a viewer, but also once again not the easiest to watch. But if that doesn't speak to the power of cinema, nothing does.

Picking up where the previous movie left off, idealist Kaji has been conscripted into the Imperial Army as a recruit, and his commitment to principles of humanism and justice butt up against the turgid reality of the institution and those who breathlessly uphold it. Informed by his own experiences while working alongside Matsuyama Zenzo from Gomikawa Junpei's novel, Kobayashi sets his withering gaze on the dangerously boorish juvenility, barbarous hypermasculinity (and homophobia, and misogyny), and abusive rigidity of basic training and military units; the cold, unyielding inhumanity and self-protecting inaccountability of any military command structure; and even the reckless severity of army hospitals. All this only builds upon those themes already addressed in 'No greater love,' including the corrosive destruction that war and military culture wreak on the human spirit; if not entirely as rough, in no time the viewing experience is just as commanding. Even through all the unpleasantness the narrative is roundly captivating as Kaji's stubbornness again produces trouble, and the scene writing remains dynamic and gripping as the plot develops toward an inevitable, terrible culmination. Kobayashi's direction is unfailingly tight all the while, sustaining a buzzing electricity about the proceedings while orchestrating shots and scenes with masterful finesse. This is to say nothing of the cast, all giving superb, spirited performances befitting the grim vibes of the saga. Naturally Nakadai Tatsuya stands out most as Kaji, deftly meeting the physical and emotional demands placed on him as an actor, but co-stars including Tanaka Kunie, Sato Kei, and Fujita Susumu are to be commended just as much.

While less harried and visceral than in some comparable fare, the stunts, effects, and action sequences we see in 'Road to eternity' are no less brutal and troubling. Miyajima Yoshio's cinematography is gratifyingly sharp and vivid in capturing every detail, whether the nuances of the acting or the horrid, varied violence throughout, to say nothing of the crystal clear audio. Outstanding detail fills the production design, art direction, costume design, and hair and makeup to adjoin terrific filming locations, and the excellence of the craftsmanship somewhat stands in contrast to the nature of the material and the presentation. Kinoshita Chuji's original music seems even more prevalent to me in this title and it is a welcome, somber complement to the tale at hand. Truly, in all regards this is just as fantastic as Part I - the writing, acting, and direction just as exceptional, the storytelling just as dour and dispiriting, and the criticism of war and the military just as strong. I'm inclined to think that this portion of 'The human condition' may overall be less fully striking, yet any discrepancy is quality is negligible to the point that nitpicking is pointless. One way or another the incontrovertible fact is that this is another essential classic in Kobayashi's oeuvre, and 'Road to eternity' and the broader trilogy are stellar movies that demand viewership. Between the tenor of the story and the pictures' lengths one should be well aware of what they're getting into when sitting to watch, but if you have the opportunity to do so, it would be a sore mistake to pass these up. Kobayashi once again proves what an incredible filmmaker he was, and I can only give this my very highest and heartiest recommendation.