A Soldier's Prayer
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Masaki Kobayashi
Tatsuya Nakadai
Michiyo Aratama
Taketoshi Naito
Keijiro Morozumi
Yusuke Kawazu
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Kaji, a Japanese soldier, faces the Russian invasion of Manchuria at the end of World War II. After his unit has been destroyed by Russian tanks, he surrenders to the advancing Russians, naively believing that they will treat prisoners of war in a more civilized manner than his own people have treated them. He soon learns, however, that he is again under the strict discipline of Japanese officers in the prison camp. At first Kaji believes that conditions would be better if he could communicate with the Russian soldiers, but he finally realizes that all captors are alike. His idealism shattered, he murders a man to avenge the death of a friend and then escapes from the camp. Hoping to be reunited with his wife, he attempts to cross the vast wastelands of Manchuria to reach her. In the end, his strength fails as he struggles through a blizzard, and he falls dead in the snow.
Director
Masaki Kobayashi
Cast
Tatsuya Nakadai
Michiyo Aratama
Taketoshi Naito
Keijiro Morozumi
Yusuke Kawazu
Kyoko Kishida
Reiko Hitomi
Fijio Suga
Nobuo Kaneko
Tamao Nakamura
Hideko Takamine
Chishu Ryu
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Released in Japan in 1961 as Ningen no joken III. Film is the third part of the trilogy entitled The Human Condition, released in its entirety in Los Angeles in 1970. The other parts are The Human Condition (1959) and Road to Eternity (1961), q. v.
