[Susan Foreman]

'The Human Condition' (1959) - Pre-order available from Criterion direct for 3 disc Blu-Ray $47.96 and 4 disc DVD $63.96

Release date: June 8

"This mammoth humanist drama by Masaki Kobayashi is one of the most staggering achievements of Japanese cinema. Originally filmed and released in three installments of two parts each, the nine-and-a-half-hour The Human Condition, adapted from Junpei Gomikawa’s six-volume novel, tells of the journey of the well-intentioned yet naive Kaji—played by the Japanese superstar Tatsuya Nakadai—from labor camp supervisor to Imperial Army soldier to Soviet prisoner of war. Constantly trying to rise above a corrupt system, Kaji time and again finds his morals to be an impediment rather than an advantage. A raw indictment of Japan’s wartime mentality as well as a personal existential tragedy, Kobayashi’s riveting, gorgeously filmed epic is novelistic cinema at its best."

Special features:

• On the Blu-ray: High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural (Parts 1–4) and 4.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio (Parts 5 and 6) soundtracks
• On the DVD: Restored high-definition digital transfer
• Excerpt from a 1993 Directors Guild of Japan interview with director Masaki Kobayashi, conducted by filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda
• Interview from 2009 with actor Tatsuya Nakadai
• Appreciation of Kobayashi and The Human Condition from 2009 featuring Shinoda
• Trailers
• PLUS: An essay by critic Philip Kemp