Doctor Shizue Natsukawa comes to a small village to tell them about a hospital to treat lepers. There are some lepers about, and the local gossips have nasty things to say. She explains what is known about the disease, how it vectors, and how the hospital wants to help return the sufferers to a normal life. There are roadblocks; some people say the sufferers are taken to the island and killed. One of the sufferers is so ashamed of his leprosy, that he will not even admit he has it, even though everyone knows it. Doctor Natsukawa works patiently and kindly to gain peoples' trust and compliance.
Shirô Toyoda's film is loaded down with facts, telling its story in the context of a real effort to educate its audiences in the subject. It's impossible to judge it as a fiction film, and it is not shaped as a documentary. It is an early example of the docu-drama, and sometimes a little awkward in its techniques. It is nonetheless a relatively successful example of the genre.
