On November 29, South Korean President Park Geun-hye issued her third speech to the people after the "cronies interfering in politics" incident, and after several apologies and difficulties, she asked for a conditional resignation. This is a victory for South Korea's democracy, the independence of the judiciary, the accountability of the media, and the protests of the people, so that power can be effectively restrained and the "people's hearts cannot be deceived." In Korean films, this kind of reflection and accountability for national and social issues has always been there and has never been absent.
In recent years, the number and quality of Korean films that have been praised as "beating chicken blood" have surprised people, and the reason for this cannot escape the national conditions and policies. The year 1999 was a landmark year in the history of Korean cinema, when the revision of the Film Promotion Act completely abolished the "censorship system" and switched to a "grading system". The support of the government coupled with the enthusiasm of the people has ushered in a comprehensive revival of the market-led Korean films, and the era of blockbusters has begun, and the films we are familiar with, such as "Life and Death Spy Change", "Chunxiang Biography", "My Savage Girlfriend" and other films, at the same time, the atmosphere of democracy and freedom has also made Korean films constantly question. Like a cappuccino, the pure love and bright idols of Korean movies are the milk bubble that pleases people, while the reflection on the country and society is the espresso that sinks underneath.
Accountability to the state apparatus is unceremonious
The Prosecutor's Tale
Li Rijiong, the director of this year's new film "The Prosecutor's Biography", is an assistant director of the movie "Bandits", and when he first directed the tube, he performed well.
The "violent" prosecutor Bian Zaixu is a righteous but brash and informalist activist who treats the suspects without mercy, but was sentenced to 15 years in prison for "violent death". In order to clear his grievances, he used his expertise to network in prison, and joined forces with Han Chiyuan, a fraudster with nine previous convictions, to embark on a path of revenge.
The story of revenge is more playful than "The Shawshank Redemption", "Kind Of Gold" and "Confession", but in contrast to its comedic color, it is the unceremonious accountability of the state apparatus, the fall of the core figures of the state supervision organs, and the judicial justice and human rights protection will be empty talk. The suspense of the film is whether Bian Zaixu can clear the injustice, attract the audience to follow his painstaking management, collect evidence, and explore the truth, but when he goes through all the difficulties to board the court, overthrow the evil forces, and look back at the whole film, it is found that the change in Bian Zaixu's fate is not a relaxing ending, the reason why he has the opportunity to see the sky again, it is crucial to play a point up and down in prison, and this also means that the loopholes in prison management are extremely frightening.
The obvious entertainment elements in the film make the film not disconnect from the market, such as the character combination of "fresh meat" and "bacon", the comedy plot of the "fraud" activity of Won Chi Won, etc., all of which put on a market-oriented coat for the film's deep theme. Having a deep meaning and not burning the brain can make the promotion of such films easier, after all, the first step in the intention of a film to spread is to win the audience's viewing choices, but the reflection on the country's legal justice and human rights protection will make you feel like a back even when you laugh.
Is the overthrow of the throne really sleeping?
"Mourning"
Also including a political examination of the country, "Si Mourning" and "Prosecutor's Biography" seem to have a seemingly simple core, and the transmission of true intentions is actually more obscure.
"Si Mourning" is Li Junyi's second costume film after 10 years of "The King's Man", such as the brush finely outlined the style of the picture here to continue, the lens is clean, do not drag mud and water, the picture and narrative of the moderate blank space are very similar to the aesthetic principles of Chinese painting, but the aesthetic picture unfolds a historical tragedy. Based on true events in the history of the Joseon Dynasty, the film tells the story of Si Mo Shizi during the British Dynasty of the Joseon Dynasty who was locked up in a rice cabinet for 8 days under the orders of his father and starved to death.
On the surface, the film focuses on the emotional crisis of a father and son, and the son also enjoyed the favor of his father in childhood, but with the father's excessive expectations and the son's lack of schooling, the father-son relationship broke down. However, these are only appearances, the father-son relationship is actually the difference between kings and subjects, and the real focus of contradiction is only one, that is, the ownership of royal power. The elderly monarch and the young son competed for royal power, the ministers of the DPRK focused on their respective political futures, and si mourned the son of the world and eventually became a sad victim of political struggle.
The film won four awards at the 36th Korea Blue Dragon Film Awards and represented Korean films in the 88th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. I think the underpinnings of this movie is its format. The feudal dynasty and the imperial family have gone with the dust of history, and now looking back, I want to say not only tragedy, but reflection on history, and use the mirror of history to look at the present. Are those that perish under the wheels of democracy and freedom really sleep forever? This is a question worth pondering for many.
The film rating of "The Prosecutor's Tale" is set at 15 years old, while the rating of "Si Mourning" is 12 years old, and the story of father and son is suitable for all ages, and the meaning of the ancient metaphor needs to be chewed slowly.
Let the "Purin Incident" be retried
The Advocate
After its release in 2013, the movie "The Defender" unexpectedly became a dark horse at the box office, with more than 10 million viewers, and still ranks in the top ten at the Korean film box office. Based on real history and set in Busan in the 1980s, the film is based on the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, and focuses on the events in which he was in charge of defending the Pulin incident while working as a lawyer, telling the story of Song Woo-seok, a tax lawyer with no education and no background, who experienced five life-changing public trials. Different from the image of the lawyer in people's impressions, the protagonist Song Yuxi appeared as a small person, only Gao Chinese, went through the judicial examination to become a lawyer, and because he started with the real estate book business, his "side door left way" was often ridiculed by his peers. It is such a person who regards money as more important than self-esteem, but in order to pay off a debt of conscience, he embarks on a path of democratic defense.
Lawyer Song Woo-seok is a character with thickness, and the film uses only a few words to make a reasonable explanation of his personality and demeanor: because of the hardships of life, he is eager to improve the living conditions of his family after obtaining a lawyer's qualification, and he must choose the latter between the height of his career and the speed of gold absorption. This also caused his image to contrast greatly, from a person who did not ask "serious things" to a participant in a "political affair", and all this began with a bowl of pork soup and rice. When Song Yuxi made a living from hard work, he often went to a small restaurant run by a big aunt and once ate a running order. Years later, he returned to the restaurant to thank his aunt, but at that time, not only did his life situation change, but also more terrible social changes. Soon, the son of the restaurant aunt was caught up in the vortex of the democratization struggle, arrested on charges of leftists, and subjected to brutal abuse and injustice. Song Yuxi, who originally only wanted to live a well-off life behind closed doors, gradually became a democracy fighter under the wrapping of emotions and a sober sense of professional responsibility.
"At such a time when citizens are unable to exercise their legal rights, as a legal officer, I should be at the forefront, which is really the obligation of legal personnel." Towards the end of the film, Song Woo-seok's words at the front of the protest crowd are touching. The film not only examines the country's democracy and legal system from the perspective of a legal worker, but also raises questions about the relationship between the state and the people. When Song Woo-seok is tried for the issue of democratic defense, the scene where most lawyers in Busan appear in court to defend him voluntarily makes the film leave a bright ending while torturing history.
Due to the release of the movie "The Defender", the "Bulin Incident" has once again become a topic of discussion in South Korean society, and the case was reviewed in 2014, and the five defendants who had been convicted 33 years ago were found innocent by the court, and finally washed away the grievances of many years.
Political films can change political reality
The Melting Pot
Film comes from reality, it can reflect or criticize reality, but can it change reality? The social effects of the film "The Defender" add a positive illustration to this question, and before that, in 2011, the film "The Melting Pot", which is also based on real events, has already set an example.
Based on sexual violence in a school for the deaf and dumb in Gwangju, South Korea, between 2000 and 2004, the film tells the story of a tragedy caused by government inaction, corruption by law enforcement agencies, collusion between the powerful, and the efforts of school teachers and human rights activists to undo the darkness. Jiang Renhao, a new teacher, found that the school was shrouded in a tense and oppressive atmosphere, which was suffocating. Soon after, he accidentally discovered that the students had been beaten, and since then he has witnessed the abuse of students by teachers many times, and with the help of human rights group Youzhen, he has discovered the inside story of the frequent incidents of sexual violence on campus. In deaf-mute schools cloaked in benevolence, many administrators and teachers have committed sexual violence against many students for many years, and the police have long been bought off by the principal, and the students who call the police will only be subjected to more brutal abuse. Jiang Renhao and human rights groups worked together to bring the perpetrators to court, and the incident caused strong repercussions across the country, but the road to rights protection was even more difficult than imagined. With the help of his local roots and influence, the principal has already laid out a huge network of relationships. The younger brother of the student Quan Xiu committed suicide because of the violence, and Min Xiu hoped to get justice in court, but the grandmother of the family had agreed to the terms of reconciliation in order to make a living. In desperation, Min-soo finds the abusive teacher alone and dies with him. The campus sexual assault case still does not get a fair trial, and the perpetrators of the crime are at large. In the crowd of protesters, Jiang Renhao's once hesitant ambition was shattered to the ground under the police's high-pressure faucet.
"We're fighting all the way, not to change the world, but to keep the world from changing us." A year after the incident, this sentence written by Youzhen to Jiang Renhao has resonated with many viewers. In the face of injustice, knowing that the fight will break the blood, whether to "maturely" avoid or "clumsily" face up, this may be a problem that everyone will encounter in life. Before the final trial, Jiang Renhao looked at the "freedom", "equality" and "justice" engraved on the gate of the court, and still had hope in his heart, but when he walked through this gate, everything was reversed.
In September 2011, after the release of the movie "The Melting Pot", it triggered a collective reflection in Korean society, led to the re-investigation and handling of the prototype case, and the problem of violating the human rights of disabled people in social welfare institutions exposed in the film also aroused the attention of the general public. On October 28, 2011, the Korea Council passed the Partial Amendment Bill to the Special Law on the Punishment of Crimes of Sexual Violence (also known as the "Melting Pot Law"). The film cannot sweep the earth like a spell and reborn all things, but it is by no means a weak reflection of the real society, the film can whitewash the potholes of the world, it can also illuminate the fig leaf of reality, and the power transmitted between the light and shadow vocal music cannot be underestimated.
The life of a mortal confirms the history of the nation
"The Barber of Hyoko-dong"
The 2004 film "The Barber of Hyoko-dong" was also translated as "The Presidential Barber", which is also a glimpse of history from the perspective of a small person.
The barber Han Mo runs a barber shop in Hyo Tzu-dong near the Presidential Palace, and the simple Han Mo unconditionally believes that everything the state does is right. This small citizen at the bottom of the society originally lived in the area furthest away from the core forces of society, but he personally experienced the presidential vote fraud, the "April 19" student movement, witnessed the change of state power, and became the president's full-time barber by chance because he reported spies to the government, but Han Mo, who was angry in the eyes of his neighbors, still lived a life of fear. In the presidential palace, the companion is like a companion, and he will be cleaned up if he does not agree, and this special job has caused him to have a different sense of "responsibility" in his heart, so that he sent his son to the police station in a vacuum. As a result, his son was detained and interrogated as a political prisoner, and when he was released, he could not stand on his legs, and hanmo's life of luck came to an end. His most outrageous move was to rush into the street and use the scissors that had accomplished his "career" to harm his hair.
The film covers Han Mo's youth to old age, and he also witnesses the evolution of the country's history. Although history is dignified, it is inevitable to enter the world of movies. Whether it is Han Mo pushing his wife who is in labor to be mistaken for a doctor in the rain of bullets and bullets, or his son's leg disease is cured by the eyes of the "dragon", there is a bit of metaphor in the joke, which is not only a tribute to the tenacious survival of a grassroots, but also a reflection on the political pressure that offends the human rights and freedoms of the people.
For a long time, the Korean people's struggle for democracy has never stopped, which is their persistence and persistent belief. To describe the entanglement of personal fate and the torrent of history, I often avoid the word "epic", feeling that it is exaggerated to praise personal experience as "epic", and the historical parts that are dismantled into individual experiences are often branched and lack poetic smoothness. "The Barber of Xiaozidong" is more like a legend, unfolding a reverie about history through Han Mo's perspective. History has been imprinted, but it can never resist a fresher reading.
The pending murder questions judicial injustice
Memories of Killing
The 2003 film Memories of Killings is a crime mystery film directed by Bong Joon-ho based on the Hwaseong Serial Murder Case in the 1980s, one of the three major unsolved cases in South Korea, which has not yet been solved. A story about the search for the truth, but in the end there is no correct answer.
A series of serial killings against young women have cast a dark cloud over the otherwise peaceful town. The town's simple policeman style is rough, extorting confessions by torture, and even creating perjury to beat the suspect into confession. The Soviet police, who had just arrived from Seoul, were calm and cautious, and eliminated the suspicion several times. However, the victim was mysteriously and brutally killed on one rainy night after another. Pressure from top to bottom and a sense of professional responsibility brought several police officers to the brink of collapse, and when they finally caught a suspect who met all the characteristics perfectly, the identification report from the United States denied their judgment.
The murder not only took the lives of the victims, but also changed the lives of many people. A mentally handicapped suspect who was tortured by Park police ran away in the shadow of violence and was killed by a speeding train. From cynicism to conscientiousness, The Park policeman changed himself but still could not catch the real culprit, and between the continuous proof and the overthrow, the increasing sense of powerlessness made him finally give up his former professional ideals and lead to a rich and stable life. It's just that when he passes by the murder scene again, the confused and sharp eyes can still sting the audience's heart.
The "Hwaseong Serial Murder Case" occupies an important position in the history of Korean justice, one is that it introduced DNA identification as important evidence for the first time compared with the relatively primitive criminal investigation methods at that time. Second, there is a 15-year appeal deadline for South Korean law, and due to the extremely large social impact of this case, the Korean judicial circles have specially proposed a motion to amend this law, but in the end it was not resolved. Bong Joon-ho's skillful lens language tells the political metaphor of the film, and also conveys the voice of the korean people.
Film originally did not assume the function of changing society, but korean films' reflections on the country and the nation pushed film to become an artistic force that transformed reality. The audience's enthusiastic response to such films will encourage the creative passion of film authors to enter a virtuous circle.
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