In the post-epidemic era, the film "Mogadishu", directed by Yoo Seung-wan and starring Kim Lun-yip, Cho Yin-sung and others, rode the Korean film market as a dark horse.
The film will not only win the Korean film box office title, but will also represent South Korea in the 2022 Oscars.
Based on real events in the history of non-South Korean diplomacy, the film tells the story of the civil war that broke out in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, in the early 1990s, and inter-Korean diplomats joined forces to rescue their compatriots and escape from Mogadishu at a time of life and death.
Stills from Mogadishu
"North-South Korea issues" are no longer a new theme, there are "Common Guard Zone", "Iron Rain", "Life and Death Spy Change" and other pearls and jade in front, why can "Mogadishu" highlight the siege and achieve "old bottles of new wine"?
1
opposition
Mogadishu is a film built on "opposites".
Because of the opposition, people do not dare to face each other's crisis of trust, camps and camps have to fight to the death, and only then do countries build a high wall that cannot be mutually beneficial.
From ancient times to the present, human beings have been seeking a cure for eliminating antagonism and coexisting peacefully, but the director pessimistically tells us in the film that opposition is everywhere, it penetrates into all corners of the world like a virus, and there are countless variations.
This antagonism can be a struggle of ideologies and interests between states.
The chances of eliminating it are slim to none, sometimes even at the cost of blood.
At the beginning of the film, the director shows the various intrigues between the two Koreas in order to win a valuable vote to join the United Nations.
In addition to the overt education and financial support for Somalia, the two sides secretly hired robbers to rob the state ceremony, bought reporters to spread rumors, and other acts that were diplomatically degrading, revealing a strong absurdity of reality and black humor.
If Ambassador Han and Ambassador Lin, because the words and deeds of diplomats represent the image of the country, can still suppress the anger in their hearts and have a rational and peaceful conversation, the two flesh-and-blood counselors around them have externalized the irreconcilable contradictions between the two Koreas and the DPRK to the greatest extent.
When Counselor Jiang grabbed Counselor Jiang's collar and scolded the "red elements", and Counselor Jiang fought hard because Counselor Jiang forged a letter of surrender, the smell of gunpowder almost overflowed the screen.
This antagonism is also a huge difference between rich and poor between different classes.
Another dark line in the film is the analysis of the social reasons why the "Battle of Mogadishu" broke out.
It is not difficult to see from the details of the bribery accepted by the Somali Customs, the use of official positions to enrich themselves, and the palatial decoration of the presidential palace that the Bari regime, which South Korea is trying to please, has become corrupt and festering, and its anger is about to be exhausted.
In contrast, the film follows the eyes of Ambassador Han, Counselor Tai and other foreigners, and depicts the bottom picture of Somalia:
People live naked and starved, struggling to survive in slum garbage heaps, and children are educated in dilapidated shacks.
This objective but compassionate perspective of the other reveals the inevitability of the breeding of rebel forces in the deliberate confrontation between rich and poor created by incompetent regimes.
If the above two opposites are too macroscopic and distant for the audience, then after the outbreak of the civil war, the confrontation focused on the individual is shocking.
Without much ink, the director portrays a purgatory on earth full of fanaticism and death.
The Somali intelligence officer, who was still a brother to the counsellor one second, shot him in the ear with a gun and ransacked the North Korean embassy.
The angelic child who longs for knowledge has now become a devil with a gun in his arms for pleasure.
Diplomatic slogans of "family like friends" played on the loudspeakers of the South Korean embassy, but the Somali people of the same ethnic group on the streets were in a mess and their bodies were strewn around.
In the first half of the film, almost everyone is bound by the "shackles" of ideology, national stance, class differences, identity barriers, personal interests, etc., and falls into a strange circle of mutual hatred and cannibalism.
The trust, civilization and humanity that have been so hard to build up are vulnerable in the face of all kinds of confrontations.
2
Breaking the ice
It is precisely in such a "lost world" where civilization has collapsed and is full of hatred and confrontation that the "ice-breaking journey" of the dprk and the ROK to put aside their prejudices and join hands to survive is so moving.
Exploring the subtleties of human nature in the details and promoting emotional relationships have always been the strengths of Korean screenwriters, and good assignments such as "Poetry", "Burning", and "Sunshine Sister Tao" have proved it.
As a commercial film with a dusty taste of war, "Mogadishu" is also delicate and remarkable in the emotional handling of the two koreas.
When North Koreans first took refuge in the South Korean Embassy, the two Koreas sat on either side of the table like religious paintings, which was a dramatic historical moment.
This group of foreigners with the same roots and thicker blood than water, because of historical problems, were forced to fight openly and secretly, attacking each other, but now they have to sit down to face each other and think about survival together.
The loosening of their antagonistic relationship began with Ambassador Han taking the initiative to deliver food to Ambassador Lin; Secretary Kong was always able to get the same plate of food as the North Koreans; and Mrs. Lin helped Lady Han suppress the shiso leaves.
In these tacit table details, both sides realized how ridiculous the previous confrontation was — they spoke the same language, had similar eating habits, and even in the eyes of somalis, they were no different.
Ambassadors Han Shin-sung and Lim Yong-so also demonstrated the professional qualities that diplomats should have in this "ice-breaking trip": flexible minds, calm and calm minds, and people-oriented magnanimity.
When Ambassador Han apologized to Ambassador Lin for forging the letter of surrender, Ambassador Lin not only understood on the spot, but also thought in a different position: "We will do the same." ”
When the Italian Embassy informed Ambassador Han that the rescue planes could only take away the South Koreans, Ambassador Han was caught in a painful entanglement in the face of this precious opportunity to escape.
A word of understanding and wordless silence saw the twinkling light of humanity in the ambassadors of the two Koreas.
Gradually removing their defensiveness and masks, they truly regard each other as brothers and sisters at this moment. Each other is no longer a symbol worthy of hatred, but a flesh and blood of ordinary people.
The most moving thing about the film is the great escape that is related to life and death.
Before leaving, everyone worked nervously but methodically to prepare: women sewed sacks and white flags, children helped deliver clothes and sand, and men armed cars with books and door panels.
In this scenario, there is no longer any ideological opposition to the state's position, and the two koreas, which are inseparable, are now integrated and working together for the goal of "survival".
On the way to escape, they were unfortunately attacked by government forces and rebels, and cars sped through the rain of bullets and bullets, and the pages flew all over the sky.
This is not only a romantic adaptation of the director for visual considerations, but also a wake-up call to the world, in the face of life and death, ideology is as fragile as paper, only by letting go of opposition and working together can we escape the world.
3
Peace is obstructed and long
The ill-visible ending of "Mogadishu" gives the film a weight. The two Koreas, who had just walked past the Ghost Gate, thanked each other for their belated thanks on the rescue plane.
Sadly, having unloaded their guard and become friends of life and death, they are about to land, and for personal safety reasons, they have to put back their masks and shackles, pretend to be strangers, and are forced to continue their hatred and confrontation.
Here, the director handles the complex moods of the two Koreas with restraint and forbearance:
The children looked at each other, their eyes covered by the adults, and the adults forced a resolute pace of composure and indifference; the two diplomats struggled for a while, leaving each other with only a reluctant back.
The two groups of people who embraced affectionately on the plane arrived in the real world and gradually paralleled in line, and then parted ways.
One to the north, one to the south, leaving behind endless sighs.
Although it is difficult for people living in peacetime to experience the fierce battles of "Mogadishu", the confrontation, strife and impossibility of dialogue between people conveyed in the film have increased unabated and intensified compared with the 1990s.
Looking at the current living environment or network environment, it is full of mutual attacks and insults because of different ideologies, positions, identities, circles, regions, genders, personal interests, etc.
As Ambassador Han put it: "Sometimes there are two truths. "In the face of hostility and prejudice, people are only willing to believe what they think is the truth.
This is the inferior root nature rooted in human genes, no matter how advanced the technology is, it cannot be changed.
It can be seen that "Mogadishu" is not only a masterpiece of history, but also a cold fable that looks at contemporary and future society.
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