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      The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

      Released Dec 14, 1959 3 hr. 20 min. War List
      73% 15 Reviews Tomatometer 95% 500+ Ratings Audience Score Although war has broken out, conscientious objector Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai) hopes his job as manager for a mining company will keep him from being conscripted. His latest pet project is to improve working conditions for Chinese laborers in a far-flung mine, and, although his employers have their doubts, they agree to it. Once there, Kaji is dejected to find very little support for his ideas, and as POWs are introduced to the workforce, he risks his position by helping them. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

      View All (59) audience reviews
      Dani G Heavy drama. Patient storytelling. Powerful film. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 08/15/23 Full Review dave j Co-written and directed by Masaki Kobayashi the first of three movies with inspired writer Kaji ( Tatsuya Nakadai) who is supposedly be married to his long time girlfriend is afraid to be drafted as he already has an anti-war stance. And as a result of his writing skills he is drafted as his opinion of improving work ethics draft him to a Chinese village where minerals like ore, copper and steel can be mined to help the war efforts. It is during then he witness some of the atrocities inflicted upon the laborers. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review isaac m The Human Condition Series is one of the most underrated Japanese movies ever made. It analysis a Japanese man who went from organizing a Chinese prison camp to serving the Japanese military during the Second World War. I enjoy the performances, the writing, the direction and the camera work. Overall, The Human Condition Series is a very good take of life during the Second World War from a Japanese perspective. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review andres s Wow, this is the youngest I've ever seen Nakadai. Very cinematic movie. It reminds me of Casablanca a little bit. The scope of it is quite grand and epic. I didn't know what to expect from this movie but I'm liking it so far. God, what a miserable place that mining town. Oh shit, it seems like Kaji is in over his head with this new manager laborer job. It's crazy how crooked and unfair Kaji's coworkers are. These "supervisors" are taking advantage of and mistreating their laborers. I can see why this movie is called The Human Condition as it deals with the fairness and justice of human lives. The disregard for human life that people can learn during wartime is something that I'll never get over. It can turn a person into a cruel soulless monster. Shit, I wonder how things are going to change now that they're taking in 600 Chinese POW's and putting them to work in their mines. Wow, when they opened up those train cars and the people started pouring out, that was like some Holocaust type shit. TO BE CONTINUED… So! Same thing with A Brighter Summer Day, this movie's long as fuck. Too long for me to give a damn about what happens next at this point in time in my life. I do want to finish it and it was turning out to be a good movie, but right now, I don't care to spend another 2 hours finishing it. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member A magnificent film of unfathomable pathos and grit. Quite provocative and intense. Definitely not for lovers of cliched, gentle and glamorized cinema or superhero scintillating heroics. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member This film is brilliantly crafted with powerful characters, emotions, struggles, betrayal, and of course suffering. With a theme similar to Schindler's List, this is a film that expresses the real life horrors of the Second World War, told from the view of a Japanese man as he begins realize the evil and horror that his country is helping to spread around the world. At almost three and a half hours, the film leaves us with many interesting stories and characters to follow. So even if the film's running time is unattractive, it's a movie no one should miss. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (15) Critics Reviews
      David Mermelstein Wall Street Journal What's astonishing is the way that Kobayashi juggles the complicated narrative, with its panoply of incidents and significant characters (friends, nemeses and everything in between), so that clarity is never compromised. Jun 10, 2021 Full Review David Fear Time Out It's [Tatsuya] Nakadai who makes this impressive yet flawed screed worth your time commitment. Rated: 4/5 Nov 17, 2011 Full Review Variety Staff Variety This is unique as a social document but pretty slow going as film entertainment. Jun 29, 2011 Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills [A] foreign masterpiece... Mar 12, 2024 Full Review Robert Ham PopMatters A Sisyphean journey through WWII-era Japan. Rated: 8/10 Jul 20, 2021 Full Review Dwight MacDonald Esquire Magazine The action is often frenetic and yet the film seems to last even longer than the three hours and twenty minutes it does last, probably because there is no structure and no rhythmical build-up; just a series of episodes. Jul 22, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Although war has broken out, conscientious objector Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai) hopes his job as manager for a mining company will keep him from being conscripted. His latest pet project is to improve working conditions for Chinese laborers in a far-flung mine, and, although his employers have their doubts, they agree to it. Once there, Kaji is dejected to find very little support for his ideas, and as POWs are introduced to the workforce, he risks his position by helping them.
      Director
      Masaki Kobayashi
      Screenwriter
      Jumpei Gomikawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Zenzô Matsuyama
      Distributor
      Brandon Films Inc., Image Entertainment Inc.
      Genre
      War
      Original Language
      Japanese
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Dec 14, 1959, Wide
      Sound Mix
      Mono