The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)

Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Chikage Awashima
Runtime: 208 minutes

Synopsis: A Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.

Verdict: I know what a lot of you are thinking: why would I ever subject myself to a black and white, three and a half-hour long film that, on top of it all, is in a foreign language? And to be perfectly honest, if any of these obstacles usually bother your movie-watching experience, I'd recommend skipping the first chapter of what is a nearly 10-hour long narrative divided into three parts.

The first one, entitled "No Greater Love", introduces us to Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai), a Japanese pacifist who, in order to escape mandatory military service, accepts a managerial position in a labor camp where Chinese prisoners of war are detained. He moves there with his wife and immediately realizes that he was going to be faced with a terrible inner conflict: choose between his humanity and everything else. It's a mesmerizing study of the human condition (oh hey!) that goes beyond the protagonist's dilemma, dissecting a large array of characters whose ideologies and positions differ. It touches on themes of a man's need for freedom and love, and how in times of war they are stripped of their humanity to better serve the most inhumane of causes.

The first chapter is divided into 2 parts, and I recommend taking a small break between the two because the watch can get overwhelming at some point due to its relatively slow pace. But overall, it's pretty much exactly what I wanted and didn't get from Terrence Malick's "A Hidden Life": a film that uses its runtime to properly study the lack of humanity in times of war told from the perspective of a pacifist rather than one that focuses on pretty wide shots set in the countryside. I'm already looking forward to witnessing the rest of Kaji's journey.

FINAL GRADE: 9/10