The Human Condition

 Last week's Thanksgiving break was dominated by Janet unfortunately coming down with COVID. Happi8ly, it was a mild case, and our trip to Massachusetts to see her mom turned into takeout grilled chicken from Market 32. After laying up for a few days she's now right as rain, although still tires pretty easily (classic COVID). Now I'm the one who feels dreadful, although I've tested negative twice. While Janet slept long hours recovering I launched into the requisite movie marathon, re-watching the entire nine and a half hours of Masaki Kobayashi's The Human Condition trilogy: No Greater Love (1959), Road to Eternity (1959), and A Soldier's Prayer (1961). It's such a pity that the original set of novels of Junpei Gomikawa have never been translated into English. The right wing in Japan hated the novels and the films, and maybe that helps explain why it is under-watched (and obviously under-read) even today.

The greatest film trilogy in history is The Human Condition, and, no pun intended, I will die on that hill. I'm going to show part of it next semester in my Images of Fascism class, although, sadly, not the entire trilogy (which would make the foundation for a great class).