The Human Condition I – No Greater Love
It is very rare that you come across a movie that is emotionally draining and uplifting at the same time. In my personal discovery of Japanese cinema, I haven’t seen any other movie that has left such a lasting impression on me. So, taking the risk of making the movie sound trivial, I have decided to share my thoughts on Masaki Kobayashi’s first part of his trilogy The Human Condition.
No Greater Love or “Ningen no joken” is an adaptation by Kobayashi of a story of the same name written by Jumpei Gomikawa. The story is about Kaji a pacifist during the time of WWII in Japan. To avoid getting enlisted in the Japanese army, and to be able to spend time with his newly wed wife, Kaji decides to take the job of a labor superintendent at a mine in Manchuria. It is his belief that his pacifist ideals and their implementation, he can get better productivity and a better working environment.
He is adamant at putting his methods to test and his efforts backfire, because the mine worker’s boss, Okazaki, is extremely cruel and brutal with the workers. Kaji gets a little support from his mine supervisor Okishima. The situation gets complicated when about 600 starving Chinese POWs arrive at the camp. They are sent as manpower to assist in the mining but they are so ill and famished that they cannot even carry themselves. The army officer who hands them over to Kaji does not take his pacifist ways lightly and tries to keep tabs on Kaji taking him to be a ’socialist’.
Kaji on the other hand takes complete responsibility for the POWs but he finds that the Chinese prisoners resent his attempts to treat them with kindness. Their past experiences with Japanese soldiers, and Japan’s military incursion into China makes them suspicious of every Japanese. Kaji’s unusual behavior ends him at odds with both the prisoners and his fellow supervisors. When, after achieving a productivity gain, Kaji decides to take a brief vacation, his enemies arrange for some of the Chinese prisoners to escape, endangering Kaji’s position.
Kaji is played by none other than the amazingly talented Tatsuya Nakadai. Nakadai is known for being the favourite of Masaki Kobayashi. The team up of Kobayashi and Nakadai rivals the other famous director actor pairing of Kurosawa and Mifune. Interestingly after the famous split of Kurosawa and Mifune, Kurosawa took Nakadai as his next leading man. For me, it is impossible to choose between Mifune and Nakadai. They are legends in their own right and when they share the screen together its absolute magic.
Nakadai morphs himself into Kaji and we forget that this is the same actor who did so many samurai roles. He easily blends into this idealistic character and immaculately portrays Kaji on screen. Humanity is Kaji’s greatest strength and weakness. His tough moments to tender situations, from his complete disbelief at the situation to his utter despair at his inability to change things, all are brilliantly portrayed by Nakadai. He is just amazing!
No Greater Love is visually stunning and emotionally heavy. It is the first installment of this 10 hour epic trilogy. I believe that technically this film is a masterpiece. The scenes are beautifully composed, framed, and lit. This film explores the many facets of the human experience in fascist Japan during WW-II. Inhuman acts as well as humanistic ideals clash on the screen as the existing establishment believes in exploitation and brutality towards their employees and Kaji tries to spread his revolutionary beliefs.
There is a common underlying there in many Kobayashi movies. There is always an individual who finds himself at odds with his society. It is said that his distaste for war and the strict establishment on screen is a direct result of his own experience. In 1942, when he began his career at Shochiku studios, Kobayashi was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army and sent to Manchuria. He refused promotion above the rank of private and was also a prisoner of war. He was later released in 1946, returned to film making, becoming an assistant to Keisuke Kinoshita.
It is thus very obvious that the ordeal of Kaji possibly came from the director’s own experiences during the war. Kaji protests, struggles but fails against an oppressive and inhumane system. Nothing changes by his efforts but, it stands out as an assertion of humanity.
There are so many anti-war movies made by several Japanese masters but this series remains the crown jewel. This is a collection item.
Tags: Japanese Cinema, Masaki Kobayashi, My Favourites, Tatsuya Nakadai, World Cinema
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It almosts sounds like Do aankhen baraah haath.. anyway would be interesting to check out.
Sg
Interesting comparison. Do Aankhen Baarah Haath has an idealistic hero and that’s where the similarity ends.
I am not sure where you can get a DVD but it is a Criterion Collection, so you might find it somewhere….