Shima Iwashita loves Jin Nakayama and he her, but she wants to be married, and he is an army officer who feels a need to be dedicated to ... something. He has taken a pledge not to marry, and even if he wished to marry her, he is a junior officer, and her brother, Kyûzô Kawabe, is a convicted communist. In mid-1930s Japan, his superiors would never approve of the marriage. So she marries a Noh actor. However, she realizes she does not wish to be with him.
There are elements in this late film by Heinosuke Gosho that suggest 1965's DOCTOR ZHIVAGO: the snow, the bad marriage, the hopeless romantic love and the revolution. In this movie, the revolution is a failed one by army officers that became known as "The February 26 Incident." On that date, a faction of officers attempted to kill several politicians and military officers of an opposing faction. This movie supports their allegiance to a "Showa Restoration" to restore the authority of the Emperor Hirohito. Although they killed some of their targets, and wounded others, their goal was unsuccessful and seventeen of them were convicted in closed trials and sentenced to be shot. With this faction destroyed, the other faction gained complete control of the army and the government: the militaristic government that led to World War Two.
That's the story and the legend behind it as the political backdrop to this movie. I am no expert on internal Japanese politics in this era.... but as John Ford would say, when the legend becomes fact, print the legend. And it's such a beautiful legend in glorious black and white.
