Review of Kobayashi's The Human Condition

This monumental work by Japanese director Kobayashi is a micro-history of Japan's war time experience. The sweep and grandeur of the story are epic the likes of which are rarely seen in these days of youtube clips and first person shooter video games. It was released in the early 1960s on the heals of other films by Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa. This period is commonly referred to as the golden age of Japanese Cinema. A period which produced, arguably, Japan's greatest film directors. Not only Ozu and Kirosawa, but also Kobayashi, Mizoguchi, Oshima, and many others I am certainly leaving out. I apologize for the digression, but a film like this is truly monumental for not only Japan, but for the World too. So rarely do we see a portrait of what is a rare breed in Japan; a humanist and a pacifist. The character of Kaji defies so many of the stereotypes of Japan. Kaji is not militaristic, he focuses on the rights of the working class and is suspecting of being a socialist. He is always fighting against the aggressive, authoritarian, abusive, corrupt, Japanese military-industrial complex. He is very dedicated to his virtues.

The Human Condition exposes the Japanese Imperialist military for what it was. But the character of Kaji and the story that is told presents a story of Japan that is rarely told. Especially in the constant wrangling for power in East Asia between Japan and its neighbors. Japan hasn't apologized for its war time atrocities, but this film, at least, shows that Japan has a humanist, liberal side that isn't so taken with war fever.

I used to think that Japan was all too much of a former Imperialist country that wanted nothing but expansion, new markets and more profits at any cost. This film shows how not all of Japan wanted war. There was a well reasoned resistance to the Imperialist war machine.

There are several very well done sequence in the film. The struggle of Kaji against the corruption and complacency in Japanese Manchuria are well played. As are the war scenes. Perhaps the most dramatic scene is the ending where Kaji dies starving and frozen somewhere in Manchuria, denied the only thing he wanted, his wife Michiko.

It took me about three weeks to get through the whole film. I watched it on Hulu.com. It is in black and white with subtitles, so it doesn't appeal to too many people outside of Japan. If Kurosawa appeals to an international audience, then Kobayashi appeals more to a domestic audience. Kurosawa films, the ones he is most famous for, show Japan in its Medieval splendor. Kobayashi's The Human Condition reveals a corrupt, immoral, defeated Japan. It is very much a realist film which ends tragically.