Evils of war fill 'Human Condition' trilogy

March 30, 2007|By Michael Wilmington, Tribune movie critic

One of the greatest anti-war films of the post-World War II era, though relatively little seen in the U.S., is Masaki Kobayashi's staggering three-part, 10-hour adaptation of Jumpei Gomikawa's six-volume novel "The Human Condition." Here, Gomikawa's vast semi-autobiographical epic, faithfully translated and brought to stinging life by Kobayashi, follows a pacifist Japanese, Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai), though hellish experiences during the war. There, he is forced against his inclination to abuse Chinese prisoners (in Part I) and then to lead his own Imperial Army soldiers into hopeless battles (in Part II) where most of them will be killed. Finally, in Part III, the war over, the torment continues as Kaji becomes a prisoner of the Soviet Army.

Kaji is brilliantly played by the young Nakadai ("Ran") who conveys with both subtlety and force the dilemma of a moralist forced into immoral behavior in war.

Meanwhile the huge panorama around him (in a film that took Kobayashi four years to make) recaptures the WW II experience with meticulous detail and crushing impact.

"The Human Condition" is an essential foreign classic that too many Americans have missed; it gains added interest today in the wake of Clint Eastwood's similarly humanist, true and shocking WW II saga, "Letters from Iwo Jima." In Japanese, with English subtitles.

'The Human Condition I: No Greater Love' **** (Japan; Kobayashi, 1959). 7 p.m. Tue., Doc Films.

'The Human Condition II: The Road to Eternity' **** (Japan; Kobayashi, 1959). 7 p.m. April 10, Doc Films.

'The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer' **** (Japan; Kobayashi, 1961). 7 p.m. April 17, Doc Films.

*indicates material from past Wilmington reviews.

Doc Films

University of Chicago

Ida Noyes Hall

1212 E. 59th St.


*'Babel' *** 1/2 (U.S.-Mexico; Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, 2006). The latest movie from the incendiary director-writer team of Inarritu and Guillermo Arriaga ("Amores Perros"), a film about a modern, metaphorical Tower of Babel, following four groups of people on three continents through a chaos of misunderstandings, confusion and tragedy. A powerhouse film, beautifully made, with a mixed, multilingual cast of professionals and amateurs, including Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Koji Yakusho, Rinko Kikuchi, Adriana Barraza and Gael Garcia Bernal. In English, Spanish, Arabic and Japanese, with English subtitles. 6:15, 9 and 11:45 p.m. Fri.; 1 p.m. Sun.

'Children of Men' *** 1/2 (U.S.-U.K.; Alfonso Cuaron, 2006). Cuaron's hypnotic science-fiction thriller-drama about rebellion and infertility in future Britain, with Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine and Chiwetel Ejiofor; watch for spectacular long-take cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki . Based on the novel by P.D. James. 6:45, 9 and 11:15 p.m Sat.; 4 p.m. Sun.

'Mr. Lucky' *** (U.S.; H.C. Potter, 1943). Cary Grant in one of his signature roles: as a suave WW II-era lady-killing gambler. (Grant fan Blake Edwards later made this into a 1959-'60 TV series.) With Laraine Day, Charles Bickford, Gladys Cooper and Paul Stewart. Co-written by the blacklisted Adrian Scott. 7 p.m. Mon.

*'Written on the Wind' **** (U.S.; Douglas Sirk, 1956). The great Douglas Sirk romantic melodrama about the dissolute second-generation members of a Texas oil family and how they fashion an American tragedy from too much money and unrequited love. As played by mercurial Robert Stack and 1956 Oscar-winner Dorothy Malone (creating one of the screen's most memorable nymphomaniacs) these tormented siblings tear up the town, making life hell for stolid Rock Hudson as Stack's best friend and Lauren Bacall as Stack's wife. The movie, one of Sirk's most popular, is impeccably visualized but also gaudy, garish, full of jukebox colors and feverish emotions. 7 p.m. Wed.

'Svengali' *** (U.S.; Archie Mayo, 1931). John Barrymore's famous scene-devouring performance as Svengali, the mad artist who makes a puppet of singer Trilby (Marian Marsh) dominates this likably showy movie. From George du Maurier's novel. 7 p.m. Thu.

Gene Siskel Film Center

164 N. State St.


*'She's Gotta Have It' *** 1/2 (U.S.; Spike Lee, 1986). Lee's debut feature that took a then-unique look at African-American "bohemian" lifestyles in New York with "free woman" Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) and her determined suitors: played by Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell and Lee himself, as the irrepressible Mars Blackmon. 6 p.m. Fri., 6 p.m. Tue.

The Music Box Theatre

3733 N. Southport Ave.


'Sorry, Wrong Number' *** (U.S.; Anatole Litvak, 1948). A highly convoluted film noir filled with flashbacks and impending doom, based on Lucille Fletcher's radio play about a lonely bed-ridden woman who hears her murder being planned on a crossed wire and seems helpless to stop it. In the film, Barbara Stanwyck plays the woman, supported by Burt Lancaster, Wendell Corey, Ed Begley and William Conrad. 11:30 a.m. Sat.-Sun.

LaSalle Bank Cinema

4901 W. Irving Park Rd.


'Five Star Final' *** (U.S.; Mervyn LeRoy, 1931). Crackling '30s newspaper drama about an irresponsible scandal sheet, its hard-driving editor (Edward G. Robinson) and an unscrupulous reporter (Boris Karloff) who digs up the dirt for a sensational murder story that will ruin a family. 8 p.m. Sat.