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The Human Condition I/II/III (1959-1961) (Criterion)
.....aka: Ningen no jôken (original japanse title)

Director: Masaki Kobayashi

Description: 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.




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.

Disc01 - The Human Condition I (1959) (DVD9)
Disc02 - The Human Condition II (1960) (DVD9)
Disc03 - The Human Condition III (1961) (DVD9)
Disc04 - Bonus Disc (DVD5)