film about red army

[Roland Domenig]

dear nohchool park,

there was a similar question concerning films about the sekigun last year.
back than i wrote the following answer:

there are several films dealing with the 'japanese red army' or better the
red armies for there existed several of them: the (kyosan shugisha domei)
sekigunha, the rengo (or toitsu) sekigun, the arab sekigun later renamed
nihon sekigun, as well as splinter groups like the maoist ML sekigunha or
the sekigunha nihon iinkai. together with other groups such as the higashi
ajia hannichi buso sensen that pursue(d) similar goals they are generally
referred to as kagekiha (extremists).
the news film SEKIGUN PFLP SEKAI SENSO SENGEN (red army pflp declaration of
world war, 1971) by adachi masao and wakamatsu koji is the only film where
the red army (in this case the sekigunha respectively the arab sekigun) is
credited as co-editor (together with the pflp). fictional films from
wakamatsu and adachi such as TERORU NO KISETSU (season of terror, 1969),
SEIZOKU/SEKKUSU JAKKU (sex-jack, 1970), MARUHI JOSHI KOSEI KOKOTSU NO
ARUBAITO (secret high school girl - side-job in ecstasy, 1972) or TENSHI NO
KOKOTSU (angelic orgasm, 1972) do deal with terrorism as well. yamamoto
shunya, another famous pink eiga director, made PORUNO SOKATSU KYOKI NO
YOKUJO (passion of madness, 1972) after the asama sanso incident. after
adachi left for lebanon in 1974 wakamatsu koji kept on referring to the
sekigun in films like BAISHINFU MARIA (prostitute maria, 1975), SEIBO KANNON
DAIBOSATSU (sacred mother kannon, 1977) or (briefly) in KISU YORI KANTAN
(easier than kissing, 1989).
although wakamatsu and other directors frequently related to the sekigun,
there were almost no films that directly dealt with the japanese red army or
leftist terrorism. the first films that directly addressed this important
chapter of japanese history were takahashi banmei's HIKARI NO AME (rain of
light, 2001) and harada masato'S TOTSUMYU SEYO! ASAMA SANSO JIKEN (the
choice of hercules, 2002). i've heard that hasegawa kazuhiko who for more
than 20 years had a filmproject about the rengo sekigun simmering is now
finally realize it. in documentary film tsuchiya yutaka in ATARASHII
KAMISAMA (the new god, 1999) sent amamiya karin to north korea to meet the
sekigun members that hijacked the yodo-go in 1970.

well, we still have to wait for hasegawa's film and it doesn't seem likely
that it will be made soon.

there are much more films about the student movement than about the sekigun.
oshima's NIHON NO YORU TO KIRI (night and fog over japan) is certainly a
good starting point. the frictions in the japanese left must also be
considered when looking at the influence of the student movement on japanese
cinema. there is not only a generation gap between say the so-called
shochiku nouvelle vague directors, especially oshima and yoshida, and the
older directors at shochiku, but also an ideological gap between the
directors of the new left (e.g. oshima) and the directors of the old left
(e.g. yamamoto satsuo, imai tadashi or shindo kaneto).

roland domenig
institute of east asian studies
vienna university
 




> Hi, all.
> 
> I am Nohchool Park at the University of Kansas. Does anybody have any
> information on Japanese film about red army (Sekkigun) in the 1970s or
> student movements in the 1960s? I am actually undertaking a research on how
> the student movements in the 60s and 70s in Japan influenced on the content
> and style of the films in the following generation. I suppose there must
> have been a gap between old stylists such as Kurosawa and Mizoguzi, and the
> post-60s directors like Imamura Shohei and Oshima Nagisa. Did the latter
> directors ever critically reevaluated the older generation just as French
> new wave directors dismissed their "Papa's films" as "a certain tendency"?
> 
> I heard that Oshima Nagisa made a film titled "Night and Fog in Tokyo" which
> depicts the 60s' student movement in Japan. Any information about the films
> and texts concerning the above topic will be of great help to me.
> 
> Have a good summer!
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
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