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Sansho the Bailiff

1954 2h 4m
Drama
MOVIEVIBE Rating
8.1/10
439 reviews
Your Rating
Sansho the Bailiff

In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho.

"Without mercy, man is like a beast."

Top Billed Cast

Kinuyo Tanaka
Kinuyo Tanaka
Tamaki
Yoshiaki Hanayagi
Yoshiaki Hanayagi
Zushiô
Kyōko Kagawa
Kyōko Kagawa
Anju
Eitarō Shindō
Eitarō Shindō
Sanshô dayû
Ichirō Sugai
Ichirō Sugai
Minister of Justice
Bontarō Miake
Bontarō Miake
Kichiji
Yōko Kozono
Yōko Kozono
Kohagi
Chieko Naniwa
Chieko Naniwa
Ubatake

Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews

C CinemaSerf Verified TMDB Critic
2023-01-04

When a benign provincial governor tries to intervene to protect his people from the brutality of the military, he is stripped of his rank and banished. His wife and children are forced to follow him, on foot, some time later and hopelessly ill-equipped for that task they fall prey to people traffickers who split the family up. The young daughter and son soon find themselves bought by the eponymous character and forced into cruel manual labour that only his son "Taro" (Akitake Kôno) seems at all concerned about. Can he help? Can they manage to keep some semblance of their erstwhile decency and...