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The Quiet, a review by RossRoy
(From RossRoy's Random Viewings on March 28th, 2010) The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer, a review by AntaresThe Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961) 88/100 - My favorite film of the trilogy. War and his treatment by his fellow soldiers has nearly broken Kaji. But the thought of returning to Michiko fuels his desire to survive and he'll stop at nothing to make it reality. This is definitely Nakadai's best performance of the three films. Gone is the doe-eyed zombie of the first film, replaced with a realistically tormented shell of a human being. Kobayashi, throughout the film, emphasizes the luck of having a roof over your head, the first time being when one of the prostitutes mentions it when they come to what appears to be an abandoned farm. Tange says it at one point and Kaji declares it at the refugee camp. But it's when Kaji is trudging through the frozen Manchurian landscape, after escaping captivity, and in his delusional mind, he hears Michiko say it as they entered their house back at the mining camp, that Kobayashi throws an ambiguous twist at Kaji. By now, Kaji knows he's finished and most likely is going to die and he's re-living the happy moments from the past with Michiko, in his mind. He remembers little bits of happy conversation between the two, but we only hear Michiko's lines of dialog. And then, just as Kaji is about to fall forward into the snow, you hear Michiko laughing. Is Kaji remembering one last moment of her exuberance before he dies or is Kobayashi, having the last thing Kaji hear, is Michiko laughing at him, for being so obstinate in his beliefs back at the mining camp and losing his military deferment? And now, instead of being back in Japan, at home with the woman he loves, he's dying, unsheltered on the frozen steppe of Manchuria...alone, a victim of his ideals. What the color coding means... Teal = Masterpiece Dark Green = Classic or someday will be Lime Green = A good, entertaining film Orange = Average Red = Cinemuck Brown = The color of crap, which this film is (From Antares' Short Summations on February 26th, 2014) Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom
Das Amt 1.01 Die Neue Writer: Dietmar Jacobs (Writer) Director: Micha Terjung Cast ![]() (From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on February 23rd, 2012) |