UNITED RED ARMY A Film by Koji Wakamatsu 2008 / Japan / 190 min. / 1.85:1 / DTS A Lorber Films Release from Kino Lorber Inc. 333 W. 39th St. Suite 503 New York, NY 10018 (212) 629-6880 Publicity Contact: Rodrigo Brandão Kino Lorber Inc. (212) 629-6880 ext. 12
[email protected] THE RED YEARS More than any other films, those made by Koji Wakamatsu in the 1960s and 70s are deeply rooted in the political and social upheavals of the era in Japan. One of the leaders of Pink cinema, Koji Wakamatsu is concerned with the history of student protest movements. A relatively unknown subject in the West, the radical student protests that rocked Japan in the late 1960s peaked in violence not experienced anywhere else in the world and had many unique characteristics. The movement originated in the particular conditions that developed in the country after 1945, in the questionable decisions made by the Japanese Communist Party and in relations between Japan and the United States ratified by the Japan-US Security Treaty signed in 1951. This situation allowed the emergence of a new leftwing that broke away from the Japanese Communist Party, accused of rigidity and Stalinism. In 1960, protests became more radical and the National Student League (Zengakuren) splintered into various radical leftwing groups. During the 1960s, youth mobilization was unprecedented: opposition to the Vietnam War, demonstrations against the increase of university fees (intensified by the revelation of a budget deficit of 2 billion yens at Nihon University (aka Nichidai) that had been embezzled by its leaders), refusal of discrimination against minorities (particularly Koreans), rejection of the rampant productivity of the 60’s, anti-pollution movements, etc.