United Red Army

[fugazi]

STARK portrayal of the Japanese RAF/ RLF
Made on a pretty low budget
Uses a bunch of archival footage
Docudrama.

From what I can tell fairly accurate. (?)
The director was somehow affiliated with the radical left there
(I think he might appear in some of the earlier scenes)
The film itself is certainly not terribly sympathetic.
(it almost comes off as downright reactionary and I can't quite tell what may be dramatization and what may just actually be true)

Mori gets portrayed as a cult leader.
Has anyone here seen the film who knows more about this than I do?
If that is the way it went down, then its pretty crazy that it did.

What is the point of beating the shit of each other?

[PhoenixAsh]

URA was quite contemptible. The beatings were part of internal purges and was aimed at eradicating those of the group that weren't deemed occupied enough with the revolution. Nagata is credited for saying she was trying to eradicate preoccupation with sex rather than revolution. I am not sure if this is true. Anyways the purges started as jiantao which is self criticism and a central element in maoist practice...and sometimes these get quite...intense...

The point of self-criticism is to renew a common bond and to detect mistakes in actions and reasoning. By stating them towards your community you create a common bond...apparently...and it also stimulates and increases psychological awareness.

[PhoenixAsh]

o and just to be fair. Self criticism is not without merits and it can be very beneficial when done in a group as long as it is focusing on behavior and not attributes and it should be done in certain moderation. In some practices it is linked to the idea that somebody must first be broken down and must be made completely aware of their own inadequacies and failures in order to be rebuild into somebody who is knowingly competent. This will ultimately fail if the breakdown process isn't followed by reinforcement of ones strengths.

[fugazi]

o and just to be fair. Self criticism is not without merits and it can be very beneficial when done in a group as long as it is focusing on behavior and not attributes and it should be done in certain moderation. In some practices it is linked to the idea that somebody must first be broken down and must be made completely aware of their own inadequacies and failures in order to be rebuild into somebody who is knowingly competent. This will ultimately fail if the breakdown process isn't followed by reinforcement of ones strengths.

no, I mean I didn't mean to come down too hard on the Maoists (I feel like my posts have taken on this anti-Maoist bent recently (which to be honest I don't know too much about))

Criticism/ Self-Criticism seems like an interesting praxis (sort of like a revolutionary encounter group). I can see (as the film shows) how it could go horribly awry if it isn't handled properly. There's a false confession aspect to it that seems somewhat troubling. I also don't know how I feel about the whole rebuilding people thing (sort of assumes that there is someone out there who knows just how people should be rebuilt)

anyways, that film is hard to watch. I'm probably gonna think about this for a while unfortunately

[Atsumari]

I enjoyed this much more than United Red Army
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7tgJ06BHe4
The Japanese Red Army was an improvement from the United Red Army, but it is still a tragedy in my opinion

[fugazi]

hey, thanks for the rec.
I'll see where I can find it.

[Nakidana]

I enjoyed this much more than United Red Army
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7tgJ06BHe4
The Japanese Red Army was an improvement from the United Red Army, but it is still a tragedy in my opinion

Dammit, looks really good but can't find it anywhere. :glare: