BROKEN COMMANDMENT

HAKAI

By Kazuo MAEDA

TOEI COMPANY, LTD. - as SALES

Historical - Completed 2022

Toson Shimazaki's timeless novel, Hakai has twice been made into movies by a master directors Keisuke Kinoshita in 1948 and Kon Ichikawa in 1962. This film focuses on a school teacher who confronts the discrimination against a low-class outcasts, which is actually his true origin.

    • Year of production
    • 2022
    • Genres
    • Historical, Drama
    • Countries
    • JAPAN
    • Languages
    • JAPANESE
    • Budget
    • 0.6 - 1 M$
    • Duration
    • 119 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Kazuo MAEDA
    • Writer(s)
    • Toson SHIMAZAKI, Masato KATO, Norio KIDA
    • Producer(s)
    • Hiroki FUKUSHIMA (TOEI COMPANY, LTD.)
    • Synopsis
    •  At the strong insistence of his father, Ushimatsu Segawa conceals his origins from a “buraku” area of low-class “untouchables,” leaving his hometown to serve as an elementary school teacher where he excels and is loved by his students. But he constantly struggles with the secret of his low-birth status and is disturbed by all of the discrimination leveled upon his class. It prevents him from pursuing a romance with Shiho, whom he meets at the temple where he resides, but who descends from samurai family. Despite strong support and friendship from his colleague, Ginnosuke, Ushimatsu’s secret begins to reveal itself when he expresses his fondness for the free-thinking writer and poet, Rentaro Inoko, who also hails from a Buraku community. But when he gets a chance to meet the controversial author, Ushimatsu can’t bring himself to open up to him. It isn’t until Inoko is murdered after giving a rousing and moving speech about human dignity and equality that Ushimatsu takes up the mantle of justice and human equality himself in front of all of his students.