United Red Army (2007): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2007, United Red Army is a thriller, drama and history film directed by Kōji Wakamatsu, running about 190 minutes.

What it’s about. 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.

Who’s in it. United Red Army stars Maki Sakai as Mieko Toyama, Arata Iura as Hiroshi Sakaguchi, Akie Namiki as Hiroko Nagata and Go Jibiki as Tsuneo Mori, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 6.1/10, United Red Army has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. In US you can rent or buy it from Amazon Video. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch United Red Army page.

If you liked it. Fans of United Red Army tend to enjoy The Dark Knight, Pulp Fiction, Parasite and Fight Club.