Ningen no Joken (The Human Condition: No Greater Love)
Kobayashi Masaki1958-1961
Class Notes
Week 8
Anti War
Ningen no Joken (The Human Condition: No Greater Love)
Kobayashi Masaki
1958-1961
Matsuyama Zenzo adaptation of Gomikawa Jumpei's 6 volume novel.
CHARACTERS
Kaji: An Japanese anti-war socialist/humanist during WWII
Michiko: Kaji's wife
Okishima: Assistant to Kaji at Loh Hu Liong Camp (mining)
Furuya: An employee
Koike: Supervisor of Pit 1
Okazaki: Foreman on Pit 1
Higuchi: Supervisor of Pit 2
Kawashima: Foreman of Pit 2
Chen: A young Chinese
Wang: Leader of prisoners in the camp.
Kao: a Chinese militant in the slave labor camp, in love with one of the prostitutes, Yang Chun Lau
Jin Tung Fu: Madam at the brothel
Yang Chun Lau: One of the prostitutes. In love with Kao.
TERMS
Minorities is Japan:
Japanese
Eta (untouchables)
Ainu (indigenous population)
Koreans
Chinese
Tateyaku: One of two traditional male roles: upstanding lead exemplifying Confucianist ethics
Nimaime : Another of the two traditional male roles: a gentler, but not too swift character
Before the film
Historical Background
After Japan's defeat in WWII there is a good deal of question about where the national will head. The US was pushing for democratization
The films are very pacifistic and condemn not only war, but attack the Japanese system with its "oppression of freedom" that "started" the war. THE QUESTION OF CAUSE IS AGAIN ONE OF HISTOGRAPHY, not HISTORY. The 1950's after the occupation was a time when the Japanese film makers began to confront what had happened, what the war was like for the soldiers and so on. This continued into the 60's and 70's but not with the level or quality of film of the middle to late 50's and early 60's.
Hailed by some as the greatest Japanese anti-war film ever made (Mellen), and said by others to be a a "message" film which lost its message and disintegrated into melodrama (although this is felt to be positive in that most "social criticism" films push too hard.) Anderson and Ritchie
The film has been said to have adopted the Hollywood codes and is almost a "caricatural assemblage of clichés." (Bursch). Character development according to him are non existent except for Kaji, the others are all stereotypes.
We can ask something here about both film makers and analysts and whether or how their own political persuasions lead to the film and its analysis. .It has been said that the films deal in the "consciousness of being victimized" (by feudalism, then American imperialism) which is seen by some as just left wing propaganda.
This film is usually shown in three parts: No Great Love, A Soldiers Prayer; and Road to Eternity. Today we will show Part I only, which lasts nearly three hours. The entire film takes a little over 9 hours.
This is the same director who made Kwaidan
Despite the fact that many people think of Japan as homogeneous population, it does have a variety of minorities living there from native ones (ETA - an untouchable caste which has been compared to African-Americans and AINU - who have been compared to American Indians) to foreigners- Koreans and Chinese.
The story is set in 1942 during WWII. The Japanese had invaded mainland Asia and had established labor camps at which Chinese laborers worked, hence although these are not literally minorities in Japan, they were people who were under Japanese domination in WWII and were not regarded at the same level as the Japanese themselves in most cases. The film, raises at least a question as whether such homogeneity existed in the population - that is were all Japanese involved in the beliefs attributed to the government.
A major thrust of the film is that it is the system - the social structure - which is the problem not the individuals. Most individuals are caught in it.
Film indicts militarism, (vaguely capitalism), ultimately socialism, Stalinism and a number of otherisms, while trying to deal with a humanistic approach.
Acting
Typically two major kinds of male characters appear in the leads of Japanese tateyaku and nimaime. It is felt that American films ultimately caused the demise of these two types. Tatyakus are "standing roles" head of company roles, noble upstanding samurai types, sagacious with a will and determination to persevere. Confucian in value they place no value on romantic love. Certainly loyalty to lords took precedence over that to wives. Nimaime is handsome, but not necessarily brave, strong, pure of heart or clever - rather frail and somewhat incompetent person, friendly toward the heroine and if she committed suicide he joined her.
The synthesis of these two styles appears and films begin to depict happy heroes who can carry out love scenes with some humor. Nakadai Tatsuya is one of the leading actors who played this kind of role, overthrowing the Confucian ethic about noble men not loving women
The director says that he feels there is an inherent evil in people which becomes part of the system and can never be removed, except by dying (Buddhist approach?) He equates this intrinsic evil with Christian original sin in the sense that it is in everyone.
AFTER THE FILM
The story continues through Parts II and III.. In Part II Kaji is in the army and becomes, with other recruits the victim of brutalization by the army. The film ends with his unit being captured and sent to a Russian POW camp, where he expects to find all the noble things the left claims about socialism and communism, specifically in this case Stalinism.
In Part III he is a prisoner in Russian POW camp and is brutalized by the Russians. Finally completely disenchanted by all the "ism's" brutality, he tries to return home to his wife and dies in the snow in the attempt.
How does the film depict the different people and classes within it?
Compare Kaji's house vs. the other places in the film.There are a numberof sudden cuts from scenes of the prisoners to the realtively pleasant life of the Japanese in the camp. Often the cut is to food - one shot goes from prisoners to the cooked fowl on the table; another to Kaji's table with them eating.
How does the question of loyalty to country, ideals, family become conflicted in the story? How do Kaji's feelings about his wife and his feelings about doing what is "right" relative to the prisoners conflict? Can this be seen as a problem fo making one's giri coincide with one's ninjo rather than conflict with it?
What do you think of the line "It is not my fault I am Japanese, yet my worst fault is that I am"?
Why don't or can't people trust each other?
Joan Mellen says "Kaji asks the Chinese to trust him, but they neither can nor should". Does this tell us more about Mellen or the Chinese or the Japanese. She says there is no such thing as a "good German" or a "good Japanese" because the person is ultimately responsible for what the nation does (which is what Kaji comes to realize).Is this simply her belief?
How is the "system" to blame? If Kaji does what is "right" but is against the system (which then by definition is wrong), is he in the right or the wrong? Does defying the system for a higher good put the person who defies it at risk? Are the subjectable to blackmail? Isn't this what happens to Chen? Is he put in a moral dilemma by his required loyalty to the Chinese (of which he is one) and his quasi friendship with Kaji so that he is forced to choose between the two? (The force is that he got his friend Sai to turn off the current once. This was a kind of loyalty to the Chinese, and a way to efy the system. Having done that he is then "blackmailable" since revealing this to the power people in the system can cause him much trouble. If he had not done it, he would have, in effect, turned his back on his own people. Hence his "good deed" makes him vulnerable.These are no win situations in which an oppressive society is the problem. The system is maniplated by "evil" people.
There are some interesting sound cuts in teh film. Early in the film, we hear a woman screaming before we see what is happening? How does this function in the film?
The film itself has a number of "memorable" shots in it. Are they trite (the Chinese prisoners coming out of the train; the camera angles at the execution as Kaji's world goes "out of kilter"; the figures on the hillside as the go to work; the wind at Kaji and his wife's arrival; views of nature at moments of crisis).
It has been argued though that much of the film is "cliche" ridden. The statue of "The Kiss", the constant beatings which are rather "over the top" (although bloodless).
The violence begins to escalate and the scenes of the beheading are rather horrific. The film, in fact, tends to increase the pace of the horror as the film nears its conclusion: the plot for the escape to trap Kaji; the problems for Chen and Yang Chun Lau; and attempted escape in which several prisoners and Chen die on the electrified fence; the supposed attempted escape by Kao and his comrades with his attack on the guard with its obvious result; the pleas of the men and of Yang, the build up to the executions, the executions and the one which is botched; the near riot; the arrest of Kaji; his torture; the arrival of his "draft" notice that he will have to go into the army after all; the accusations of Yang as the film ends.
Aside from the cuts mentioned above that jolt when the camera cuts quickly between prisoners and Kaji and Michiko's home life, what other film devices are used in this motion picture? Consider the shots of the member of the Kempeitai on horseback when he leaves the key. How is he seen? Where is the camera? What does his constant circling of Kaji imply? Where is the camera? The scene is repeated when Kaji is released and thrown out of the motorcyle which then rides circles around him.
Consider the scenes of people walking on the tops of hills. What can we say about placing people within nature in Japanese films? How does that apply here?
Do you feel the film is a "melodrama" full of "chiches" or is it better than that?
Do you feel that this is a "message" film in which the hammering home of the message is more important than character development?
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