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             The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
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STARS...........: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Tamao Nakamura
DIRECTOR........: Masaki Kobayashi
WRITERS.........: Zenzo Matsuyama, Koichi Inagaki, Masaki Kobayashi
GENRE...........: Drama, History, War
IMDB............: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055233
RUNTIME.........: 3h 10mn
SIZE............: 8.43 GB
VIDEO CODEC.....: HEVC (Main10@L4)
BITRATE.........: 6000 Kbps (2-pass)
RESOLUTION......: 1920x804
ASPECT RATIO....: 2.40:1
FRAMERATE.......: 23.976 fps
AUDIO...........: Japanese AAC 4.0 330kbps
SUBTITLES.......: ENG
SOURCE..........: Criterion Blu-ray, Arrow Blu-ray
ENCODE DATE.....: 2022-06-01


This mammoth humanist drama by Masaki Kobayashi is one of the most staggering achievements of Japanese cinema. Originally filmed and released in three installments of two parts each, the nine-and-a-half-hour The Human Condition, adapted from Junpei Gomikawa’s six-volume novel, tells of the journey of the well-intentioned yet naive Kaji—played by the Japanese superstar Tatsuya Nakadai—from labor camp supervisor to Imperial Army soldier to Soviet prisoner of war. Constantly trying to rise above a corrupt system, Kaji time and again finds his morals to be an impediment rather than an advantage. A raw indictment of Japan’s wartime mentality as well as a personal existential tragedy, Kobayashi’s riveting, gorgeously filmed epic is novelistic cinema at its best.

Part III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961) - After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his dear wife and his old life, Kaji faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his fellow men sneak behind enemy lines.


Extras

• Interview with actor Tatsuya Nakadai (2009)
• Selected Scene Commentary by Philip Kent [Arrow]
• Trailer