Fresh
If you're keeping tabs on the recent cinematic reconsideration of 1960s and '70s left-wing terrorism, Wakamatsu's devastating chronicle of the ultra-violent fringe of Japanese student radicalism is a must-see.
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
United Red Army
2007 · 3h 10m · NR
Drama, History, Thriller
Directed by
Kōji Wakamatsu
Overview
The film is told in three acts, beginning with a historical background of Japan's student movement of the 1960s and early 1970s, mostly using archive footage and a narrator. The second act follows the formation of the group to their mountain training camps in the southern Japanese Alps. It emphasizes the dogmatic (and eventually hypocritical) bullying of the group by Mori and Nagata, with 12 members being killed for infractions as small as improperly cleaning a gun, wearing make-up, and kissing. The third act shows the splitting up of the group after two members run off. It follows one group of five members to Karuizawa and a hostage-taking and police standoff known as the Asama-Sansō incident.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
93%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Running more than three hours, "United Red Army" is a raw mix of documentary and fiction...
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Fresh
The stilted and awkward physical and vocal performances in combination with the visually flat cinematography bring to mind the look, sound and visual texture of American daytime soaps, an association that perversely makes the movie more and more watchable.
Manohla Dargis, New York Times
Rotten
The film's commitment to representing the harsh truths of an unfortunate historical moment is admirable, but it tends to grate rather than illuminate.
Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
Fresh
Grueling [but] engrossing.
J. Hoberman, Village Voice
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