THE HUMAN CONDITION PART II: ROAD TO ETERNITY
[NINGEN NO JŌKEN] [人間の條件]
Masaki Kobayashi’s mammoth humanist drama is one of the most staggering achievements of Japanese cinema. Originally filmed and released in three parts, the nine-and-a-half-hour THE HUMAN CONDITION (NINGEN NO JŌKEN), adapted from Junpei Gomikawa’s six-volume novel, tells of the journey of the well-intentioned yet naive Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai) from labor camp supervisor to Imperial Army soldier to Soviet POW. Constantly trying to rise above a corrupt system, Kaji time and again finds his morals an impediment rather than an advantage. Both a raw indictment of Japan’s wartime mentality and a personal existential tragedy, Kobayashi’s riveting, gorgeously filmed epic is novelistic cinema at its best. (Note courtesy of Janus Films.)
PART II: ROAD TO ETERNITY
Conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, Kaji becomes witness to the abuse perpetrated by army officers against their soldiers. His pleas to senior leadership for disciplinary action are rebuked and he is instead sent to the front, where he and his unit face an imposible battle against a Soviet tank division. DIR/SCR/PROD Masaki Kobayashi; SCR Zenzō Matsuyama, from the novel by Junpei Gomikawa; PROD Shigeru Wakatsuki. Japan, 1959, b&w, 178 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
In Memoriam: Tatsuya Nakadai (1932–2025)
PART I: NO GREATER LOVE plays July 18, 21 & 23.
PART III: A SOLDIER'S PRAYER plays August 1, 5 & 6.
Run Time: 178 Minutes
Opening Date: Saturday, July 25, 2026
Genre: War drama
