Sansho the Bailiff (1954)   with English subtitle

Sansho Dayu (1954)  with English subtitle
aka Sanshô dayû (original title)

Sansho the Bailiff (山椒大夫, Sanshō Dayū)  is a 1954 Japanese period film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.

Based on a 1915 short story of the same name by Mori Ōgai, which in turn was based on a legendary folklore, it follows two aristocratic children who are sold into slavery.

Director: Kenji Mizoguchi

Writers: Ogai Mori (short story "Sanshô dayû"), Fuji Yahiro (screenplay) | 

Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa 

Sansho the Bailiff bears many of Mizoguchi's hallmarks, such as portrayals of poverty, a critical view of the place of women in contemporary Japan, and elaborately choreographed long takes – the director of photography for which was Kazuo Miyagawa, Mizoguchi's regular collaborator. Today, the film is often ranked alongside Ugetsu (1953) as one of Mizoguchi's finest works.

Plot

Sansho the Bailiff is a jidai-geki, or historical film, set in the Heian period of feudal Japan, with the story depicted taking place in the latter part of the eleventh century on the Western time scale.

A virtuous governor is banished by a feudal lord to a far-off province. His wife, Tamaki (Kinuyo Tanaka), and children, Zushiō and Anju, are sent to live with her brother. Just before they are separated, Zushiō's father tells him, "Without mercy, man is like a beast. Even if you are hard on yourself, be merciful to others." He urges his son to remember his words and gives him a statuette of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy.

Several years later, the wife and children journey to his exiled land, but are tricked on the journey by a treacherous priestess. The mother is sold into prostitution in Sado and the children are sold by slave traders to a manorial estate in which slaves are brutalized, working under horrific conditions and branded when they try to escape. The estate, protected under the Minister of the Right, is administered by the eponymous Sanshō (Eitarō Shindō), a bailiff (or steward). Sanshō's son Tarō (Akitake Kōno), the second-in-charge, is a much more humane master, and he convinces the two they must survive in the manor before they can escape to find their mother.

The children grow to young adulthood at the slave camp. Anju (Kyōko Kagawa) still believes in the teachings of her father, which advocate treating others with humanity, but Zushiō (Yoshiaki Hanayagi) has repressed his humanity, becoming one of the overseers who punishes other slaves, in the belief that this is the only way to survive. Anju hears a song from a new slave girl from Sado which mentions her and her brother in the lyrics. This leads her to believe their mother is still alive. She tries to convince Zushiō to escape, but he refuses, citing the difficulty and their lack of money.