shemichaels

Kobayashi's "The Human Condition" is one of a handful of great anti-war movies. While Japanese film has confronted its own crimes of war more than other cinema, I am only familiar with one other Japanese movie which deals directly with the war & the plight of conscientious objectors: Kurosawa's "No Regrets for Our Youth". Many films deal with the futility of war: "Seven Samurai" & "Yojimbo" come immediately to mind. But "Human Condition" takes on the enormity of war, & the means by which everyone becomes complicit in its total corruption. The hero, though a Conscientious Objector, becomes a colonial occupier, an exploiter of slave labor, an employer of a madam who runs a camp of women & girls impressed into prostitution, & generally runs the gamut of crimes against humanity while trying to maintain his virtue & love's beauty.

Parts II & III also explore the brutality of the army toward its own soldiers, & the complete desecration of the ideals of the Russian Revolution & the cruelty of ordinary Chinese villagers.

"The Human Condition" should be ranked with "Grand Illusion", though what could be as lyrical as the Renoir film? If only this were require viewing in all military academies. If only it were required viewing for all lawmakers & the executive. Is that asking too much?

If there was, I don't know it.

These are mythic creatures. Ordinary people with star qualities. Goddesses & Gods just like us. Indeed.

A "small story" on a big silver screen. It's irresistible. It has been filmed at least three times, was one of Barbara Cook's great roles on Broadway. I think no one has ever failed with this little story. But touched by Lubitsch, it is entirely magical.

"She Loves Me", "In The Good Old Summertime" & "You've Got Mail", all delight, but this version is the soul of the story. No one would want to miss Barbara Cook singing "Ice Cream". It's a pity they couldn't have written original songs for Judy Garland, and she was not at her freshest in "Good Old Summertime." But the story was still enthralling. It lends an innocence (innocent in a wicked, weary world) to anyone who plays the part.

Anyone who loves film must see this Lubitsch version.

The plot is in the tradition of "Hindoo Holiday": a young Englishman undone in life by his love for the Maharajah who indulges, teases & dominates him. But the acting is so sublime. Both Jaffrey & Mason are subtle & suggestive in their every move, word, pause, gesture. Every breath has more impact than a car chase. This is a movie worth seeing again & again. And it should be shown in every acting class in the world.

I'm really glad Madhur Jaffrey became a great cookbook author, but she is a sublime actress who was born at a time that did not allow her to have the parts that should have made her an international star.