The latest Korean film "Mogadishu" is directed and written by Yoo Seung-wan (director's masterpieces "Gunkanjima", "Berlin"), starring Kim Yoon-seok, Cho Yin-sung, Heo Jun-ho and Gu Jiao-hyun.
It tells the story of South Korean and North Korean diplomats who joined forces to escape Mogadishu in the context of the Somali civil war in the 1990s to survive. "Mogadishu" cost 20 billion won, the whole film was filmed in Morocco, has exceeded 3 million viewers in South Korea, became the annual box office champion in South Korea in 2021, and gained super high reputation. At present, Douban has a score of 8.4.
Speaking of the annual masterpiece of Korean films in recent years, watch "Parasite" in 2019, "Ministers of Nanshan" in 2020, and "Mogadishu" in 2021. What is the power of this genre film that combines war, politics, and action?
Adaptation of true historical events
First, a sentence in Douban's introduction seems a bit confusing: "The film will be based on a true story that has never appeared in the history of South Korean diplomacy." ”
It is easy to mistakenly think that South Korea has "slipped" itself into an unrelated real history out of thin air. It is necessary to explain it and avoid misleading.
In fact, in the context of the Somali civil war, the two Koreas joined forces to escape, and it really happened. But for some reason, it is not recorded in the history of South Korean diplomacy.
In the movie, Kim Yoon-seok plays ambassador Han Shin-sung, a South Korean diplomat, who is also a person, based on the former ambassador Kang Shin-sung.
Kang still remembers the rebels taking over the capital on December 30, 1990, and in January 1991, he and six embassy personnel tried to leave the turbulent city at the airport and met North Korean Ambassador Kim Yong-so and 13 staff and family members. As a result, the airport was also in chaos, and they could not leave.
The North Korean embassy had been attacked, and Kang Shin-sung offered to wait at the South Korean embassy together. The scene of them sitting and eating that night, probably as depicted in the movie, is awkward and awkward.
But Jiang Xinsheng described his state of mind at the time: "It felt like a family. We try to overcome our difficulties and unite like families. That transcends ideology and the state. ”
Later, Jiang Xinsheng asked the Italian ambassador for help, and the Italian ambassador agreed to send the South Koreans to evacuate, but was unwilling to help the North Koreans who had no diplomatic relations, "I protested to him, saying how can I leave those North Koreans, either go together or stay together." Jiang Xinsheng said so.
This is a departure from the plot of the film in which the North Korean ambassador tries to get the North Korean ambassador to defect to South Korea and causes a physical conflict. Jiang Xinsheng said that he had never proposed to make the other party submit.
Films based on real events will definitely be polished on the basis of retaining the primary color, increasing the conflict for the sake of dramatic tension. I think that as far as the film itself is concerned, the degree of completion is quite high, especially in the director's control of complex subjects, the choice of angles, and the expression of views that are as restrained as possible.
Isolated in a foreign land, ironic but compassionate
From the beginning of the film, a strong sense of "exotic" and "isolated" is emphasized. Foreign framing and exotic soundtracks enhance credibility and put characters into unfamiliar, unknown environments.
In the beginning, the South Korean counselor played by Cho Yin-sung quickly cleared the customs because of his diplomatic status and avoided looting, while others were unpacked and their valuables were seized.
The side reflects the state of oppression, chaos, injustice, and contradictions that are about to erupt, paving the way for the subsequent outbreak. The counsellor is isolated in such an environment, his English is not good, and he looks a bit "virtual".
When war broke out, the high-sounding broadcast content and chaotic violence formed a stark irony.
The camera records the beating of helpless civilians through thick smoke, and the radio voice is played: "Family is like friends, friends are like family." "The picture shows a blood stain left by the man being dragged, and the woman holding a shoe and crying in despair...
The counsellor in the embassy at this time was still isolated from the state of a spectator of the war, he witnessed the atrocities from above, the camera zoomed in, the smoke dispersed, and his shocked expression implied that the crisis had begun from this moment on and was no longer unrelated to him.
The driver who knew the South Korean embassy well turned out to be a rebel, and the close-up of the tears he shed when he was killed, and the overhead camera from above, were compassion for the individuals in the war.
The director especially focused on the "children" in different situations, the rebellious children took the gun to make a "sudden" sound, playing the game in general, and the fleeing North Korean children took the lead in pretending to be shot and fell to the ground, the adults were first stunned in place, and then cooperated with the "game", who knew that the next second the rebellious children shot wildly in the sky, and then left satisfied.
Young children don't yet understand what war and death are, but they understand the violence of games and take up real weapons. The simplest game language is to communicate regardless of nationality, and so is violence.
After being rescued, the children with guns on the side of the road were photographed, and the situation of the children evacuated in the car was compared, a window away, but there was a completely different fate.
There are sometimes two truths in the world
"Mogadishu" is very ambitious, ironic and compassionate, filming both the Somali civil war and the inter-Korean relations, and the tension of the drama is hidden in the "civil war" in this civil war. The "cannibalism" in cannibalism is condensed into a conflict between the two counselors in the film.
Zhao Yincheng and Gu Jiaoxuan played the two counselors respectively, and at the beginning they were intolerable and fought because of the problem of submission.
In the end, the North Korean counselor could not get out of the car, and the director let the South Korean counselor go to the car door, and after discovering the fact that he had been shot and killed, he sighed a long sigh.
Even if you were shot or died after arriving, the eyes could not be closed well, the director did not deliberately stir up emotions, but when it was not yet dawn, everyone held a funeral for the deceased, which is also the most beautiful picture in the whole film. It is compassion for death.
Some things don't change, both death and sunrise.
After watching it, I still remember the line: "Sometimes, there are two truths", in fact, the whole film is an argument and reflection on this line.
The truth in the eyes of the rebels must be different from the truth in the eyes of the army, and the truth in the eyes of the two Koreas is also different. The truth in the eyes of any opposing party in the world may be very different. Only violence, death, and the truth of nature will always be the same.
Thanks to the director's restrained and cold expression, it is rare that there is no superhuman-like hero in this film. No one "opened" to save all the people, they just struggled to help each other, because of the fear of death, they had a little more courage and brute force to escape.
Until the final return to safety, it returned to "reality", the two parties thanked each other on the plane, shook hands and said goodbye, got off the plane and could not even look at each other, and if the children could not help but look, they had to cover their eyes.
Adults are people who can leave without having to cover their eyes, even if the other person is a deceased friend. This "reality" is really cold.
Public number: Foggy wind, welcome to pay attention!