AKA: Jitsuroku rengô sekigun: Asama sansô e no michi
Country and Year: Japan (2007)
Director: Koji Wakamatsu
Starring: Go Jibiki, Akie Namiki, Maki Sakai, Arata

Review By: Jeff
Rating: 4 out of 4 stars (great)

UNITED RED ARMY PLAYS AT THE JAPAN SOCIETY SUNDAY, JULY 6TH AT 4:00 PM AND ON TUESDAY, JULY 8TH AT 7:30 PM

United Red Army is a stunning achievement, a harrowing saga in three parts. Reputed to be based on actual events, this film is truly “living history,” as it depicts a movement of which I had no prior familiarity, Japanese left-wing radicalism, and invests it with life and context. This is a film worthy of study and discussion, and garners my highest recommendation for any viewer who can stomach the brutal events it depicts. (Note: this review contains mild spoilers of the plot of United Red Army. It is impossible to review this film in any detail without discussing the historical events with which the film is concerned.)

The first third of the film details the increasing radicalization of the Japanese student movement in the 1960s, as the movement shifts from its initial goal of ending the American occupation of Japan to an attempted Maoist revolution. In this segment, Wakamatsu uses a pseudo-documentary technique to convey an astonishing amount of information about the rise and fall of various radical splinter groups and introduces most of the film’s major characters. Wakamatsu’s technique here mixes documentary footage, narration, on-screen text, as well as dramatic scenes featuring the film’s characters. Wakamatsu shows how most of these characters, originally driven by idealism, and the hope for a better world, devolved into ideological thugs.

More broadly, Wakamatsu effectively illustrates how the Japanese student protest movement became increasing radicalized and violent, not only against Japanese society but also against each its own members. With an unflinching eye, Wakamatsu illustrates the most radical factions of the student radicals engaging in brutal attacks on other, more peaceful groups, and participating in deadly raids on “civilian” targets. This section also introduces some of the film’s major characters, including a seemingly wimpy fellow named Mori who flees the militants prior to a violent encounter, only to weepily accept the radicals’ invitation to return following mass arrests of nearly all of the other members. Remarkably, Wakamatsu is able to retain the viewer’s interest and stave off confusion through clear storytelling, a rockin’ psychedelic soundtrack, and shocking violence.

The second third of the film takes place in the secluded backwoods cabins of the United Red Army, a consolidated group of the most radical of the radicals, as they train and prepare for what they believe will be an inevitable armed insurrection against Japanese society. In this section of the film, it becomes clear that the title of the group (and the film) is ironic, as the Japanese radicals are anything but united. At the behest of their new leader Mori, the Red Army members employ the Maoist technique of “self critique,” in which members are forced to confess all of their “reactionary” thoughts and deeds to the group, and are brutally tortured afterwards (often to the point of death) as a form of “thought correction.” Employing another reprehensible technique pioneered by Mao, Mori forces all members of the group to be tortured and to torture others, thereby rendering them complicit in the excesses of his regime and destroying their moral compasses. In effect, Mori becomes a mini-Mao, albeit a far less savvy one. (Mao was crafty enough to hold off on mass purges until he already had a sizable force at his command.) To be blunt, this section of the film is an endurance test: the tortures imposed on the Red Army members are spine-chilling, and may have led to a few walkouts at the press screening I attended. Indeed, this section of the film is so harrowing and exhausting that I felt like I had personally endured a Maoist guerrilla training camp myself.

The final third of the film depicts a siege of a ski cabin inhabited by a handful of remaining members of the Red Army, as they attempt to evade the Japanese government’s pursuit of them. The events in this section of the film are shown exclusively from the point of view of the URA members; the police who are barricaded outside the cabin are barely glimpsed by the viewer. While the viewer is relieved that this final section of the film is much less brutal than that which preceded it, the siege of the cabin is absolutely gripping. By only depicting the holed-up Red Army members and their housewife hostage, Wakamatsu creates a very tense atmosphere. Wakamatsu’s imagery of tear gas and bullets flying into the cabin is indelible.

This final section of the film is also notable in that it is the first time that Wakamatsu depicts the main characters interacting at length with ordinary Japanese citizens. Remarkably, the Red Army members in the ski cabin treat their hostage with a relative degree of respect and care that they did not accord to their own executed comrades who were deemed by Mori to be reactionary. Also memorable are the conversations between the Red Army members and their mothers, whom the police send to the scene of the siege in an attempt to convince them to surrender. The dialogues of these mothers, shocked at the violence their children have committed, and resigned to a life of social ostracism for themselves, are most poignant.

I could not finish my review without leaving strong praise for Wakamatsu’s young cast members, who, with their performances, redefine the meaning of the word “committed.” These actors convincingly spout off Maoist jargon and depict brutal beatings and mental breakdowns with great verisimilitude and not a trace of hamminess. Moreover, the film’s harsh outdoor locations must have posed enormous physical challenges to cast and crew alike, shooting for days at a time in the cold and rainy Japanese wilderness. Also worthy of note is the film’s excellent score, which is credited to the avant-garde musician and erstwhile Sonic Youth member Jim O’Rourke. While O’Rourke’s score is mostly instrumental, he uses an English language folk-rock song to great effect at the film’s climax.