Kon Ichikawa's Hakai is an anguished, revealing film about the little known caste system in Japan in which an “Outcast” is one whose ancestors include butchers, leather craftsmen, gravediggers, and other lowly figures who perform the tasks that are considered unclean by Buddhists. The story, taken from a controversial 1906 novel that has become a classic of modern Japanese literature, concerns a young teacher in a small mountain community who is torn between his dying father's commandment, “Hide your identity as an Outcast,” and his sense of the injustice of the system. Slowly and painfully his allegiance is drawn towards another figure of respect, a well known writer who has “come out” as an Outcast, and the young man makes the decision which forces him to leave his community. Cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa's breathtaking compositions move from dark, bleak imagery to snow-covered mountains and forests as the story unfolds.