New member searches specific film: death on the mountain

[Robert Grody]

Greetings, all:

I'm nowhere near a scholar or devotee, but have admired and enjoyed much in
this area, especially the works of Ozu and Kurosawa (Dersu Uzala will
always be on my Top Ten list); as a corporate webmaster, I've assigned
myself the task of reseaching one specific item which bears great relevance
to some particular issues in my life currently: i.e., caring for an aging
parent:

I remember a powerful piece of Japanese cinema that relates the tradition
in rural areas of elders who, upon reaching the point close to the end of
their lives, are required to climb a nearby mountain, sit (presumably in
meditation) on the crest, and await a dignified end by freezing to death.
In the case of this story, an old woman has waited too long, is no longer
physically capable of climbing the mountain on her own, so her son
undertakes to carry her up the trail, piggy-back style, until, on the
summit, he helps her to sit down as snow begins to fall, and then is
obliged to leave her.  Would love to re-locate a reference to this piece of
work.
Thanks, 

Bob Grody
<hof at monmouth.com>
Applied Knowledge Associates
Englishtown NJ