Underplayed Gems
The whole movie catalogue

Films and series, searchable by what they are

← Back to the shop

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959)

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity poster
Original title
人間の條件 第3部望郷篇/第4部戦雲篇
Directed by
Masaki Kobayashi
Genre
war film
Country
Japan
Runtime
3h 01m
Rated
12
Rating
8.2 of 10 from 225 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb

How it feels

A man is conscripted into the Japanese Imperial Army and forced to endure its brutal, dehumanizing system. The film follows his struggle to maintain his moral compass while facing cruelty from superiors and fellow soldiers.

bleaktenserelentlessdisturbingslow-burnharrowingclaustrophobicunsettling

What happens

Road to Eternity (Japanese: 第四部戦雲篇) is a 1959 Japanese film co-written and directed by Masaki Kobayashi. It is the second part of The Human Condition trilogy. Stephen Prince states that "Kobayashi makes "The Road to Eternity" into an excoriation of the Imperial Army. The film is focused, as he said, on "a theme of resistance to the inhumane military organization." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? Tell the Catbot what you feel like watching and it picks from the whole catalogue, or browse by genre, country and year.

Lists: Korean thrillers worth the evening · Anime films beyond Studio Ghibli · Slow films for a rainy night · Horror that unsettles instead of startling · Series you can finish in a weekend · Nordic crime worth the subtitles · Good films that end in under 90 minutes · Documentaries that play like thrillers

Loading movies…

What should I watch?