07-03-2020, 11:48 AM
This is actually a trilogy - like 9+hours of movie. It's directed by Masaki Kobayashi and stars Tatsuya Nakadai. It follows Kaji, a pacifist living in WWII Japan and it's a brutal depressing ride into tragedy. It's in B&W, and there's some very impressive panoramic scenes, plus a lot of close-up dialog sans soundtrack in that excruciating examination of expression that's so pervasive in Japanese cinema of this period. We've watched part one - No Greater Love - where Kaji takes his wife to China to supervise a harsh mining camp where many of the miners are prisoners of war and all the women (except for Kaji's loyal wife) are comfort women. Kaji has these high-minded ideas on how to supervise the mine, but he's confronted with corruption and draconian supervisors, who eventually break him.
We've started on part 2, Road to Eternity, where Kaji is blacklisted as a 'red' and drafted into the Army. He's in boot camp where he proves to be a good soldier, but is surrounded by oppression and brutality. He's about to head to the front. I can't imagine it'll go well.
No sword fights but plenty of swords with the commanding officers and some executions by beheading, plus there's bayonet training in boot camp akin to naginata. Only DOOM recommended for obsessive japanophiles or fans of Nakadai (yeah, lookin at you, cf).
We've started on part 2, Road to Eternity, where Kaji is blacklisted as a 'red' and drafted into the Army. He's in boot camp where he proves to be a good soldier, but is surrounded by oppression and brutality. He's about to head to the front. I can't imagine it'll go well.
No sword fights but plenty of swords with the commanding officers and some executions by beheading, plus there's bayonet training in boot camp akin to naginata. Only DOOM recommended for obsessive japanophiles or fans of Nakadai (yeah, lookin at you, cf).
Shadow boxing the apocalypse