When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave drivers.

Not rated.

DVD, region 1; Dolby Digital 1.0 mono., dual-layer.

Japanese dialogue with optional English subtitles.

Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayaki, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô.

Cinematographer, Kazuo Miyagawa ; editor, Mitsuzô Miyata ; music, Fumio Hayasaka, Tamekichi Mochizuki, Kanahiachi Odera ; production designers, Kisaku Ito, Shozaburo Nakajima.

Originally produced as a motion picture in 1954.

Special features: New, restored high-definition digital transfer; audio commentary by Japanese literature professor Jeffrey Angles; new video interviews with critic Tadao Sato, assistant director Tokugo Tanaka, and legendary actress Kyoko Kagawa on the making of the film and its lasting importance; a book featuring a new essay by scholar Mark Le Fanu; the story on which the film was based, Mori Ogai's "Sansho dayu," from 1915, in an acclaimed translation by J. Thomas Rimer; a written form of an oral variation of the same tale, dating back to the fifteenth century, in a rare English translation.