Challenge to Live on AllMovie

Challenge to Live was released in Japan as Ai To Honoho To. Tatsuya Mihashi plays a World War II veteran haunted by his experiences. He is particularly disturbed by memories of an army friend whom he was forced to euthanize. He enters into a relationship with an equally troubled young woman, almost deliberately ignoring a medical problem that eventually costs him his life. The question here seems to be whether or not an instant death is preferable to death-in-life. Challenge to Live becomes a challenge to the kidneys towards the end, but the film is redeemed by a few memorable visual vignettes.