Recently, There are two films worth mentioning in Korean film and television dramas, one is the super popular TV series "Squid Game", and the other is the movie "Mogadishu" that harvested the box office.
On the 22nd day of release, the cumulative number of moviegoers exceeded 2.5 million, the best box office record in the past two years since the epidemic.
Mogadishu, an exotic name, is the capital of Somalia. The familiar name of Somalia is mixed with keywords such as war, turmoil, and Africa.
The film is also known as the "Korean version of Wolf Warrior". In view of this, everyone can also expect the tone of this film!
Director: Yoo Seung-wan
Writers: Lee Ki-chul / Yoo Seung-sung
Starring: Kim Yoon-seok / Cho Yin-sung / Heo Jun-ho / Koo Kyo-hwan
In Douban's profile, "Mogadishu" is "based on a true story that has never appeared in South Korea's diplomatic history." ”
Adapted from a real event, but this event has not been written publicly, such a story undoubtedly allows the screenwriter to polish on the basis of retaining the primary color, which is a test of the strength of the screenwriter and director.
As a director and screenwriter, Liu Shengquan is mostly war-themed films, and his representative works are "Gunkanjima", "Berlin", and "Veteran", which are considered to be the best films in commercial films.
The following contains spoilers!!!
The story takes place in December 1990, when South Korean and North Korean diplomats engaged in a series of brawls in Mogadishu to win the support of Somalia, an African member of the United Nations.
The diplomat teams of the two countries are all playing against ambassadors and counsellors as the core, and they are all one-size-fits-all lineups, but when they see the end, they find that the original North Korean Master Lin and the South Korean ambassador are basically the same in terms of major issues.
On the South Korean side, they waited for 3 months to wait for the opportunity to meet the president, so they prepared a whole box of gifts from South Korea and went to the presidential palace to meet.
Along the way, diplomats happily dreamed of a promotion after South Korea joined the United Nations, but they did not expect that the gift was robbed by the North Korean ambassador.
When he arrived at the presidential palace, he found That North Korea's Ambassador Kang had walked out of the presidential conference room with a smile on his face.
After losing a loss, South Korea was not idle, and came to stir up dissension: rumors that North Korea sold weapons to Somali rebels.
When the two roads meet, it is not English, but the same language. However, a burst of gunfire turned the situation out of control.
Rebels, revolted.
The scene is out of control, the enemy is in front of the enemy, and the embassies on both sides of the originally hostile Korean side staged a difficult but humane brotherly concert, and its profits are broken.
The runaway city was filled with gunshots, cries, bloodshed, hunger and restlessness. The only way to escape the predicament is to fly away from this war-torn place by air ticket.
In the eyes of the rebels, the embassy had long lost its value, and the rebels took the lead in storming the North Korean embassy and looting it.
Dozens of North Korean diplomats (including family members and children) had to turn to South Korean diplomats for help, but at this time, they still wanted to act opportunistically and oppose guests.
From hostility to unity, where to start?
This film cleverly chooses "Eating", which is the most grounded and most expressive plot of the characters.
At dinner, at first North Korean diplomats were afraid to eat it for fear of poisoning. The South Korean ambassador angrily exchanged food, which made the North Korean ambassador pick up the chopsticks with peace of mind.
: The wife of the Korean ambassador could not open the pickled perilla leaf, and the wife of the North Korean ambassador saw it and helped to peel it.
A small gesture of intimacy and courtesy at the dinner table implies that people of the same nationality with different cultures but different ideologies have gradually thrown away prejudices and fears and moved toward a state of reconciliation.
In addition to the thrilling escape plot, in this simple but meaningful film, the director is good at capturing the lens of the eye, and this wordless but verbal narrative is more intriguing.
One is that North Korean children who have just entered the South Korean embassy are attracted to the South Korean Olympic mascot, and parents rush to cover their children's eyes, in fear that their children will be assimilated by less ideology.
In another place, Somali children with machine guns in hand patrolled past people, and North Korean children in the car looked at them silently.
What kind of people will the same ignorant and innocent children become when they grow up in different circumstances?
And will the children who grow up in today's peaceful society be like the children of Somalia, not knowing that one day they will become children in war because of adult disputes?
The last place is at the end, when the two teams face the separation, and the people who have helped each other in life and death are now speechless and pretend not to know each other.
When the next parting, maybe there will be no chance to see each other in this life.
And the adults had to cover the children's eyes again, in addition to the ideological problem, perhaps they were afraid that the children's eyes would expose the secrets of the adults!
The director uses two cars traveling in reverse as the end of the relationship.
Compatriots? Or the enemy?
This question is left to the audience to answer.