The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (Ningen No Joken: Dai 1 Hen, 人間の條件・第一・第二部)
Director – Masaki Kobayashi – 1959 – Japan – Cert. 15 – 208m
The Human Condition II: Road To Eternity (Ningen No Joken: Dai 2 Hen, 人間の條件・第三・第四部)
Director – Masaki Kobayashi – 1959 – Japan – Cert. 15 – 181m
The Human Condition III: A Soldier’s Prayer (Ningen No Joken: Kanketsu Hen, 人間の條件・完結篇)
Director – Masaki Kobayashi – 1961 – Japan – Cert. 15 – 190m
*****
The following review originally appeared in Funimation UK.
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Jeremy Clarke on a live action Japanese classic.
The main reason Masaki Kobayashi’s extraordinary trilogy The Human Condition has been scarcely seen in the West is its daunting nine hours plus length. That’s no longer the case thanks to its UK release on DVD and Blu-ray.
The trilogy’s three constituent films released two in 1959 and one in 1961 clock in at over three hours apiece which makes it long by any standard. Ostensibly three films spread over three discs in the new release it is to all intents and purposes one very long movie helpfully broken into six numbered parts of roughly equal length. This big screen cinema release viewed on a home cinema platform today stands up well alongside many contemporary TV mini-series.… Read the rest
