The Human Condition III: A Soldier’s Prayer (Ningen no jôken)
Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Written by Zenzu Matsuyama, Koichi Inagaki, and Masaki Kobayashi from a novel by Junpei Gomikawa
1961/Japan
Ningin Club/Shochiku Eiga
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” ― Plato[/box]
A reluctant soldier’s war gets even worse in the conclusion to Kobayashi’s anti-war trilogy.
Part II of the trilogy found Kaji sent into the final days of battle with the Soviet Union. This film begins in the days surrounding the Japanese defeat. The now battle-hardened Kaji leads a small group of survivors toward southern Manchuria, where he hopes to reunite with his wife Michiko. She has been in his thoughts since they were separated in Part I. The harrowing journey takes Kaji and his men through a nightmare landscape of starvation.
Finally, Kaji and a few stragglers become POWs. He becomes further disillusioned when his jailers do not act in accordance with the Communist ideals the pacifist Kaji has long held.
I consider Kobayashi’s Harakiri (1962) to be one of the greatest films ever made. It therefore pains me that I have never been able to get similarly excited about his very highly rated anti-war trilogy. In this film, the characters walk and suffer for over three hours. The film is very competently made but there are just not enough high points to keep it compelling for me. I must admit the ending sequence was worth waiting for.
Trailer for the Trilogy
