Sadao Imamura

A semidocumentary film about female pearl divers and fishermen.

This film was touted as its country's first full-length "nature documentary." Following the tradition established by Disney's "True-Life Adventures," the film transports the viewers to the loftiest heights of Japan's mountain ranges. Here, the hardy residents struggle for survival against the elements, and do a pretty good job of it (after all, they've been there longer than the audience has!) Especially well handled are the sequences involving the animal denizens of the snow-capped regions.