Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
December 22, 2014
It's a winter wonderland in these sixteen titles from the Criterion Collection. Stay warm this holiday season. Read more »
Film Info
- Japan
- 1959
- 574 minutes
- Black and White
- 2.35:1
- Japanese
- Spine #480
Masaki Kobayashi’s mammoth humanist drama is one of the most staggering achievements of Japanese cinema. Originally filmed and released in three parts, the nine-and-a-half-hour The Human Condition (Ningen no joken), adapted from Junpei Gomikawa’s six-volume novel, tells of the journey of the well-intentioned yet naive Kaji (handsome Japanese superstar Tatsuya Nakadai) from labor camp supervisor to Imperial Army soldier to Soviet POW. Constantly trying to rise above a corrupt system, Kaji time and again finds his morals an impediment rather than an advantage. A raw indictment of its nation’s wartime mentality as well as a personal existential tragedy, Kobayashi’s riveting, gorgeously filmed epic is novelistic cinema at its best.
Cast
| Kaji | Tatsuya Nakadai |
| Michiko (Parts 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6) | Michiyo Aratama |
| Jin Tung Fu (Parts 1 and 2) | Chikage Awashima |
| Yang Chun Lan (Parts 1 and 2) | Ineko Arima |
| Kageyama (Parts 1 and 4) | Keiji Sada |
| Okishima (Parts 1 and 2) | So Yamamura |
| Chen (Parts 1 and 2) | Akira Ishihama |
| Kao (Parts 1 and 2) | Shinji Nambara |
| Wang Heng Li (Parts 1 and 2) | Seiji Miyaguchi |
| Sergeant Watai (Parts 1 and 2) | Toru Abe |
| Manager Kuroki (Parts 1 and 2) | Masao Mishima |
| Okazaki (Parts 1 and 2) | Eitaro Ozawa |
| Furuya (Parts 1 and 2) | Koji Mitsui |
| Captain Kono (Parts 1 and 2) | Akitake Kono |
| Head Office Chief (Parts 1 and 2) | Nobuo Nakamura |
| Cho Meisan (Parts 1 and 2) | Kyu Sazanka |
| Sasa (Part 3) | Kokinji Katsura |
| Hino (Part 3) | Jun Tatara |
| Yoshida (Part 3) | Michio Minami |
| Shinjo (Part 3) | Kei Sato |
| Obara (Part 3) | Kunie Tanaka |
| Tange (Part 3, 5, and 6) | Taketoshi Naito |
| Terada (Parts 4, 5, and 6) | Yusuke Kawazu |
| Naruto (Part 4) | Susumu Fujita |
| Onodera (Part 4) | Minoru Chiaki |
| Officer aspirant (Part 4) | Shoji Yasui |
| Staff officer (Part 4) | Fumio Watanabe |
| Refugee (Part 5) | Tamao Nakamura |
| Old man in refugee camp (Part 6) | Chishu Ryu |
| Old woman in refugee camp (Part 6) | Hideko Takamine |
| Tatsuko (Part 5) | Kyoko Kishida |
| Umeko (Part 5) | Reiko Hitomi |
| Hironaka (Part 5) | Keijiro Morozumi |
| Hikida (Part 5) | Koji Kiyomura |
| Kirihara (Part 5 and 6) | Nobuo Kaneko |
| Russian officer (Part 6) | Ed Keene |
| Chabayev (Part 6) | Ronald Self |
Credits
| Director | Masaki Kobayashi |
| Producer | Shigeru Wakatsuki |
| Screenplay | Zenzo Matsuyama and Masaki Kobayashi |
| Based on the novel by | Jumpei Gomikawa |
| Production managers | Tatsuo Osawa and Zempei Moriyama |
| Cinematography | Yoshio Miyajima |
| Lighting | Takashi Kato and Akira Aomatsu |
| Editing | Keiichi Uraoka |
| Music | Chuji Kinoshita |
| Sound | Hideo Nishizaki |
| Art direction | Kazue Hirataka |
Disc Features
FOUR-DISC SPECIAL EDITION:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Excerpt from a rare Directors Guild of Japan video interview with director Masaki Kobayashi, conducted by filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda (Double Suicide)
- New video interview with actor Tatsuya Nakadai
- Video appreciation of Kobayashi and The Human Condition featuring Shinoda
- Japanese theatrical trailers
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Philip Kemp
New cover design by Sarah Habibi, calligraphy by Akiko Crowther
Current Posts
Photo Galleries
One Scene
Photo Galleries
On Five
Master Strokes
March 05, 2012
Akiko Crowther, a grand master of Japanese calligraphy, created the title treatment for our release ofThe Human Condition. This is the original design she sent us. —Sarah Habibi, art director Read more »
Features
The Eighth Samurai: Tatsuya Nakadai
By December 11, 2009
This expansive tribute to the iconic Japanese actor Tatsuya Nakadai was first published on the Criterion Collection’s website in fall 2005, around the time of the Criterion releases of two films . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Human Condition: The Prisoner
By September 09, 2009
“It’s not my fault that I’m Japanese . . . yet it’s my worst crime that I am!” The words are those of Kaji, hero of The Human Condition, but in their anguish and existential despair, they also . . . Read more »
Photo Galleries
Film Essays
The Human Condition: The Prisoner
By September 09, 2009
“It’s not my fault that I’m Japanese . . . yet it’s my worst crime that I am!” The words are those of Kaji, hero of The Human Condition, but in their anguish and existential despair, they also . . . Read more »
Photo Galleries
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
December 22, 2014
It's a winter wonderland in these sixteen titles from the Criterion Collection. Stay warm this holiday season. Read more »
One Scene
Photo Galleries
On Five
Master Strokes
March 05, 2012
Akiko Crowther, a grand master of Japanese calligraphy, created the title treatment for our release ofThe Human Condition. This is the original design she sent us. —Sarah Habibi, art director Read more »
Features
The Eighth Samurai: Tatsuya Nakadai
By December 11, 2009
This expansive tribute to the iconic Japanese actor Tatsuya Nakadai was first published on the Criterion Collection’s website in fall 2005, around the time of the Criterion releases of two films . . . Read more »
Press Notes
Press Notes: The Human Condition
October 08, 2009
[Updated] Critics have been deploying appropriately expansive terms in discussing Masaki Kobayashi’s gigantic slab of filmmaking The Human Condition on the occasion of its Criterion DVD release: . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Human Condition: The Prisoner
By September 09, 2009
“It’s not my fault that I’m Japanese . . . yet it’s my worst crime that I am!” The words are those of Kaji, hero of The Human Condition, but in their anguish and existential despair, they also . . . Read more »
