Masaki Kobayashi
The film was based upon Junpei Gomikawa's six-part autobiographical novel of the same name, which strongly resonated with director Masaki Kobayashi. Like the novel's protagonist, he was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and stationed in Japan-occupied Manchuria. Self-described as a pacifist and socialist, he had refused to rise above the rank of a private, feeling opposed to both the war and Japan's imperialist ideology at the time. Kobayashi adhered to such views for the rest of his life, always remaining critical of Japan's conformist culture.