Gene Siskel Film Center
164 N State St
312.846.2600
This event has passed.
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Still from The Human Condition, Courtesy Gene Siskel Film Center
- When
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May 14, 2009 – May 28, 2009
Daily (schedule)
- Where
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- Price
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$9
- Links
Note:
The Siskel is screening other single parts of the epic on Thursdays, over three consecutive days on Memorial Day weekend and a single-day marathon on May 24 — check the schedule for more screenings.
Perhaps the greatest war epic ever put to film, Masaki Kobayashi's The Human Condition is a nine-hour rumination on the futility of the individual fighting the course of history. Following the experience of a disillusioned Japanese soldier charged with participating in the WWII occupation of China, the three-part film marvels at both the depravity of war and the senseless mania that masquerades as nationalism, driving ordinary citizens to inhuman cruelties. The hero's attempts to instill a basic sense of decency into the lunacy surrounding him is rebuffed at every turn, by his superiors and the Soviet "liberators" alike, serving as a reminder that the true casualties of war — lives and morality — are much too easily justified by political cause. Tonight, the Siskel kicks off a three-week run of the film with a screening of Part I: No Greater Love.
