A boy is torn between his desire to please his father and his need to rebel against him in this drama from Japan. Sadatomo (Yamato Okitsu) is the son of Kobayashi (Mikio Shimizu), a strict and dictatorial middle school teacher who believes all people fall into one of three categories: normal people, delinquents, and scum. For all his iron discipline in the classroom, Kobayashi is a remote and unloving presence at home, and Sadatomo and his two best friends have become bored with school, often cutting class and sometimes shoplifting as an amusement. When the boys are caught lifting merchandise from a neighborhood store, Kobayashi is outraged, and informs Sadamoto and his friends that they now fall into the category of scum. As a punishment, Kobayashi assigns each of the three boys a 30-page essay in which they are to examine their crime and why it was wrong; Sadatomo, deeply moved by his father's disappointment in him, writes a sincere and articulate paper about theft, the remorse he feels, and why he deserves to be punished for his actions. Kobayashi is pleased with his son's work, and enters the essay in a writing competition for students, where it earns an award. But Kobayashi is not satisfied with the work of Sadatomo's friends, and subjects them to a rigorous program of physical punishment; Sadatomo, meanwhile, is becoming increasingly angry with his father's pride in his prize-winning essay, as his happiness comes only at the expense of the boy's shame and sorrow. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
