Two absolutely unforgettable scenes in the great Human Condition

Yes it's clunky and old-fashioned in its way, and what do you expect of a Japanese studio piece from 1959 - the melodramatic score, the acting that at times is almost out of a silent movie - filled with buy-eyed stares of amazement - and yes the story itself at times seems like a grant historical melodrama of star-crossed lovers and fights against tyranny and injustice - but Kobayashi's The Human Condition (1959) is not only perhaps the longest film ever made (actually, it breaks nicely into 6 90-minute or so parts, and today would be presented as a series, not as a single movie) is also one of the greatest, in my opinion and based so far only on parts 1 and 2: a grand narrative equal in scope to Doctor Zhivago or Gone with the Wind but more than either of those two movies a real study of moral values and clashes of culture in time of war. The historical elements may be unfamiliar to Western viewers, but the movie, in its simple plot outline, is very easy to enter and soon becomes thoroughly engaging: a young man, Kaji, becomes exempt from WWII (it's 1943) because he works in a vital industry producing ore. He has theories of how to treat the laborers, notably, treat them well and they will be more productive. He's sent out to a remote Manchurian mine, where the brutal local mine managers test him in every way. Aside from the extraordinary visual interest of many of the scenes, such as the arrival at the mine in the midst of a dust storm or the long tracking shots of the mine community, sometimes seen from an ore hill and sometimes looking up at the lines of laborers climbing trails to the pit entrance, the first two parts of the movie have a few sequences that are simply unforgettable: the arrival of the prison laborers, left in boxcars at a railroad spur, and the execution scene, punishing so-called escapees. The story itself is very compelling as we watch KAJI struggle with his ideals and try to build a life for himself in a remote place and culture - no place to bring his young, perky, somewhat naive wife Michiko. Part 2 ends with the man suddenly and surprisingly drafted into the Japanese army - a reprisal for his too-liberal management of the mine workers, perhaps.