Left-wing conflict and filmic expression 02

The split between the Left and the New Left in the 1950s left only mild-mannered pacifists who thoroughly detested violence and powerful attitudes in the Japanese Communist Party, while the New Left attracted aggressive and spirited people.
This often influenced film expression. Many filmmakers and film critics sided with the New Left.
When we reread film reviews from that time, they are full of abuse against the Japanese Communist Party and its supporters. At the time, it was a kind of fashion to view the Japanese Communist Party as a left-wing establishment and attack it, and those who opposed it were subjected to abuse.
Satsuo Yamamoto, a film director who was a member of the Japanese Communist Party and experienced the war, inserted nudity and bed scenes in his left-wing films, and Masa Imai, a film director who also experienced the war and was a member of the Japanese Communist Party, sometimes directed cruel and bloody scenes.
However, gradually, in recent years, the films made by left-wing filmmakers have changed to mild-mannered, serious, educational films.
The Japanese Communist Party, of course, recognizes freedom of expression, but film critics who are members of the party have harshly criticized war films that do not have an anti-war sentiment. This is understandable, as they themselves have experienced the cruelty of war. However, as the Japanese Communist Party is a large organization, the statements of various party members tend to be misunderstood as the party's central policy.
Even today, there must be many people who equate the Japanese Communist Party with the Soviet government or the Chinese government and mistake it for an organization that restricts expression.
On the other hand, New Left filmmakers also tolerated violence and pornographic film expressions. Many film fans are attracted to this freedom. Director Koji Wakamatsu is a prime example.
For Japanese people who have been oppressed by the authorities for many years, such films that deviate from morality and good sense are preferred.
Recent films made by filmmakers who support the Japanese Communist Party are of high quality and are worth watching, but because they lack this bad quality, they are seen by a limited audience.
Harada's "Death Lullaby" was screened at his labor union. The young union members said it was "interesting."
However, the chairman, A (a member of the Japanese Communist Party), said after watching Harada's film that "violent solutions are not good."
In this way, even if it is the opinion of one individual, it is often perceived as the opinion of the Japanese Communist Party, and this awareness accumulates.
In recent years, a young female member of the Japanese Communist Party said on an Internet program that "it is not bad for (men) to be perverted," but such remarks did not make much of an impact and disappeared.
Armed revolution may be one way to deal with the violent and murderous rule of authoritarian rulers, such as in Russia and China in the past, and Syria and Palestine in recent years.
As Marx said, each country has its own circumstances, so it is not easy to evaluate it unless you are the party involved.

However, even if a resistance organization puts an end to dictatorship, the remnants of the former dictatorship still exist, and the reality that armed conflicts are causing casualties again is very sad.

Kinji Fukasaku's son Kenta inherited his father's ideas. After Fukasaku died during filming in 2003, Kenta served as acting director and screenwriter.
Battle Royale II: Requiem (2003) depicts conflicts and resistance groups in the Middle East. The resistance group blows up the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in anger at Japan's extreme right-wing turn. However, the film also depicts the deaths and injuries of innocent people in the explosion.

credit: Toei and Production Committee

The aforementioned TV movie from the 1970s, supervised by Kinji Fukasaku, depicts the New Left's bomb attacks and terrorism, but also depicts the victims.

credit: Toei

The most radical organization that New Left members joined was the United Red Army, and the most famous terrorist incident in Japan was the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries bombing incident (https://ja-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/三菱重工爆破事件?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=ja) carried out by the East Asia Anti-Japanese Armed Front.

The photo above is a montage of newspaper photos from that time. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which was blown up, was a military contractor.