This black-and-white Japanese movie examines the tortured life and death of the militaristic writer Kitta, who wrote a book leading to a quelled army uprising and was himself executed. The book served as the blueprint for Japanese militarism in the '30s and '40s. A complex man, he was not, perhaps, as consistent in his principles as the equally tortured post-war militarist and writer, Yukio Mishima. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi