The Human Condition, Part I: No Greater Love

Kobayashi’s epic, exhausting examination of one man’s spiritual descent is an extraordinary achievement by any standard. An antiwar Candide, it took two years to complete and turned its star, Tatsuya Nakadai, into a marquee name in Japan. Broken into three sections, this massive social drama takes turns pointing an accusing finger at a merry-go-round of oppressive institutions. Part 1 (“No Greater Love”) pits Nakadai against capitalist fat cats in a Manchurian mining camp.