Year: 2008
Duration: 190'
February 1972. Five young militants of the paramilitary group United
Red Army barricaded themselves for ten days in the Asama mountain
lodge and engaged a gunfight with the police. Two policemen died
in the shootings but the first victims of the militant students were their
own comrades: before it even came to combat with the police, 14
young people had fallen victim to the fanaticism of the group.
An event because of which the student activism in Japan stalled
completely.
“Some people ask me what the point is of making a film today about
the United Red Army. I would like to ask them in response whether the
situation has changed at all. Have any problems been solved since
then? You can see nothing has changed. There are still wars going on
in the world, the Security Treaty with the US still exists and authorities
monitor citizens even more strictly. I never said that what the URA
youngsters did was right. But what is ‘right’? All that matters is the
expression of our intentions.”
Biography
film director
Koji Wakamatsu
Koji Wakamatsu (Miyagi, Japan, 1936 - Tokyo, Japan, 2012) was one of the greatest Japanese directors, coming from the New Wave in the 1960s. He specialized in pinku eiga and then realized a long series of innovative films, with many references to daily life Japanese society. Torino Film Festival presented in 1989 Violated Angels (1967), and then Cycling Chronicles (2005), United Red Army (2007) and Caterpillar (2010). His last film The Millennial Rapture (2012) was screened in Venice, short before his departure.
FILMOGRAFIA
Amai wana (1963), Kabe no naka no himegoto (Affairs within Walls, 1965), Taiji ga mitsuryosuru toki (Embrione, 1966), Yuke yuke nidome no shojo (Su su per la seconda volta vergine, 1969), Hika (1971), Tenshi no kôkotsu (Estasi degli angeli, 1972), Delta no okite (1975), Kagi (1983), Asu naki machikado (1997), 17-Sai no fukei (Cycling Chronicles, 2005), Jitsuroku rengo sekigun - Asama sanso e no michi (United Red Army, 2007), Caterpillar (2010), Sennen no yuraku (The Millennial Rapture, 2012).
Cast
& Credits
regia, montaggio/director, film editing Koji Wakamatsu
sceneggiatura/screenplay Koji Wakamatsu, Masayuki Kakegawa, Asako Otomo
fotografia/cinematography Tomohiko Tsuji, Yoshihisa Toda
scenografia/production design Gen Ito
musica/music Jim O‘Rourke
suono/sound Yukio Kubota
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters
Maki Sakai (Mieko Toyama), Arata (Hiroshi Sakaguchi), Akie Namiki (Hiroko Nagata), Go Jibiki (Tsuneo Mori), Shima Onishi (Kunio Bando), Takaki Uda (Masakuni Yoshino),
Toshimitsu Kokido (Michinori Kato), Tamoto Soran (Motohisa Kato), Shiro Sano (Tokuji Saragi)
produttori/producers Noriko Ozaki, Asako Otomo, Koji Wakamatsu
produzione, vendita all’estero/production, world sales Wakamatsu Production
sceneggiatura/screenplay Koji Wakamatsu, Masayuki Kakegawa, Asako Otomo
fotografia/cinematography Tomohiko Tsuji, Yoshihisa Toda
scenografia/production design Gen Ito
musica/music Jim O‘Rourke
suono/sound Yukio Kubota
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters
Maki Sakai (Mieko Toyama), Arata (Hiroshi Sakaguchi), Akie Namiki (Hiroko Nagata), Go Jibiki (Tsuneo Mori), Shima Onishi (Kunio Bando), Takaki Uda (Masakuni Yoshino),
Toshimitsu Kokido (Michinori Kato), Tamoto Soran (Motohisa Kato), Shiro Sano (Tokuji Saragi)
produttori/producers Noriko Ozaki, Asako Otomo, Koji Wakamatsu
produzione, vendita all’estero/production, world sales Wakamatsu Production