The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)

 Masaki Kobayashi's "The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer"


The third and final installment of Masaki Kobayashi's "The Human Condition" series, 1961's "A Soldier's Prayer" finds our pacifist protagonist reaching his lowest depths. The Japanese forces have now been shattered and Kaji is left abandoned to the treacheries of a dangerous warzone. Kobayashi certainly doesn't wrap up his trilogy into a nice little bow. Nor does this story call for. This makes "A Soldier's Prayer" and the entire trilogy as a whole, a dark tragedy.

While I felt energized by the trilogy's first installment, I was very beaten down by the time the trilogy came to a conclusion. Not thematically beaten down, I simply felt the act of continuing with the story was proving to be cumbersome. The thematic point of the film series is iterated from the get-go, making the incredible length of the project feel tiresome. 

I do understand the point that this dramatic length enables some of the themes. Our hero is beaten down time and time again and by the time we reach the conclusion, we are just as tired and beaten down as he is. However, this did not make for a very rewarding experience for me. 

To be fair, there were moments were I felt totally engaged with that fatigue. I empathize with Kaji reaching a point of abandoning his morals due to his anger at the injustice afoot. Life proves time and time again that human beings will most often resort to immoral and unjust behavior. When one tries to combat this, it can ware you down. 

For that sake, I feel engaged with the work. Overall, the film is a net positive and if there had to be an ending to this saga, this ending fits appropriately.



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