Born John Wardle, Wobble was an old friend of Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten. When the Pistols broke up, Rotten formed Public Image Limited, and Wobble became the bass player. After the group's first few albums, Wobble had a falling out with Rotten (now Lydon) and guitarist Keith Levene and departed for a solo career, also collaborating with artists such as Can members Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay and U2's the Edge. Wobble's solo repertoire ranges from pop to pseudo-reggae to difficult-to-listen-to experimentation. In the late '80s, his career took a downward direction, and he had a job sweeping train stations. He began listening to foreign music from places like North Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe and formed Invaders of the Heart with guitarist Justin Adams. The single "Bomba" brought Wobble back to the public eye in 1990, and he collaborated with Sinead O'Connor and Primal Scream in addition to releasing the Invaders of the Heart album Rising Above Bedlam in 1991. Three years later, he released Take Me to God, which featured a number of guest appearences from the likes of Gavin Friday. In 1995, he released Psalms, which was followed in 1996 by The Inspiration of William Blake. In 1997 Wobble formed his own label, 30 Hertz, to release Jah Wobble Presents the Light Programme. Umbra Sumus appeared the following year. In 1999, Wobble released Deep Space, which featured appearences from Bill Laswell and Jaki Leibezeit. Full Moon over the Shopping Mall followed in the spring of 2000 and Molam Dub was issued later that fall. Passage to Hades appeared in spring 2001. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
The Human Condition (人間の條件, Ningen no jōken) is a Japaneseepic film trilogy made between 1959 and 1961. It is based on a novel by Gomikawa Junpei 五味川純平(1916-1995).
It was directed by Masaki Kobayashi and stars Tatsuya Nakadai. The trilogy follows the life of Kaji, a Japanese pacifist and socialist, as he tries to survive in the fascist and oppressive world of WWII-era Japan. The character development of Kaji through the three films is considered by many to be inspirational. Each film is divided into two parts. Altogether, the trilogy is nine hours and forty-seven minutes long, not including intermissions.
Trilogy
No Greater Love
The first film, No Greater Love (1959) opens with Kaji marrying his sweetheart Michiko despite his misgivings about the future. The couple then move to a large mining operation in Japanese-colonized Manchuria where Kaji is a labor supervisor assigned to a workforce of Chinese prisoners. He tries and ultimately fails to reconcile his humanistic theories with the brutal reality of forced labor in an imperial system.
Road to Eternity
In the second film, Road to Eternity (1959), Kaji, having lost his exemption from military service by protecting Chinese prisoners from unjust punishment, has now been conscripted into the Japanese Kwantung Army. Despite his anti-militarism, Kaji excels in his training and tries to implement his ideals in his dealings with other soldiers in the face of the prevailing brutality. The film ends with the Soviet army's victorious onslaught.
A Soldier's Prayer
The final film in the trilogy is A Soldier's Prayer (1961). The Japanese forces having been shattered, Kaji and some comrades embark on an epic journey on foot southward to where Kaji hopes to rejoin Michiko. After surviving many perils he is captured by the Red Army and subjected to treatment that echoes that meted out to the Chinese in the first film. Eventually, disappointed that Communism, which he had hoped would be a force for human liberation, seemed little better than the oppressive systems he had been struggling against all along, and still dreaming of finding his wife, Kaji escapes and faces his ultimate trial in the vastwinter wasteland.
Reception
The British film critic David Shipman described the trilogy in his 1983 book, The Story of Cinema, as "unquestionably the greatest film ever made."[1]
External links and References
^ Shipman, D. The Story of Cinema, Hodder and Stoughton 1983
