In this adaptation of the classic and influential novel Hakai by SHIMAZAKI Toson from 1906, set during the Russo-Japanese War, the infamous caste system has been officially abandoned for some time. But minority groups, including people from the burakumin group, are still treated like second-class citizens. One teacher hides his background as burakumin from his colleagues, fearing discrimination, but when he starts reading the work of a fellow burakumin poet, his vision of his own identity starts to change.
In 1906, tijdens de Russisch-Japanse Oorlog, is het beruchte kastenstelsel al opgedoekt. Toch worden minderheidsgroeperingen nog steeds behandeld als tweederangsburgers, waaronder mensen van de burakumin-kaste. Een basisschoolleraar verbergt zijn achtergrond als burakumin voor collega’s, uit angst voor discriminatie, maar wanneer hij het werk van een burakumin-dichter begint te lezen verandert zijn blik op zijn eigen identiteit langzaam. Gebaseerd op de gelijknamige literaire klassieker van Toson Shimazaki uit 1906.
MAEDA Kazuo 前田和男 started out as assistant director of television dramas at Kokusai Hoei, Toho, Daiei and Toei. In 1985, he directed and produced four large-scale exhibition films for the Tsukuba Science Expo, focusing on indigenous cultures across Japan. Since then, he has directed films, commercials, television dramas, large-scale exhibition films, as well as promotional and educational films. Major works include Fevered Angels (1999) and Mimi wo Sumasu (2005), which made No. 7 on the Kinema Junpo Top Ten Awards and was awarded a prize by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
2022 – Broken Commandment 破戒
2005 Mimi wo Sumasu みみをすます
1999 Fevered Angels 発熱天使