A revealing film about the little-known pariah caste, the burakumin, whose ancestors performed tasks considered "unclean" by Buddhists or deemed lowly by the ruling classes. The story, taken from a controversial 1906 novel that became a classic, concerns a young teacher (Raizo Ichikawa) in a small mountain community who is torn between his father's dying commandment, "Hide your identity as an outcast," and his sense of the injustice of the system. His allegiance to his father becomes diverted to another figure of respect who has "come out" as an outcast. The film's breathtaking compositions usher the hero along a vast CinemaScope plane of discovery, moving from dark, bleak imagery to snow-covered mountains and forests as his tortured life opens up. "Ichikawa typically brings his most acute power of observation to the pitiless and intolerant people in the village. If there is an excess of sentimentality, it can be excused as a function of the film's purpose: to confront a wide audience with a taboo subject." (James Quandt)