Review Film: THE BATTLESHIP ISLAND (2017)

film-trail (64)in #film • 6 years ago

One scene of The Battleship Island shows Kang-ok (Hwang Jung-min) and his daughter, So-hee (Kim Su-an) singing while dancing in the middle of the dark night, just illuminated by the streetlight. Space and time seemed to belong only to two, father and son sharing love. In a blockbuster outburst, such sensitivity indicates the sensitivity of the director playing a sense of existence increasingly rare. Ryoo Seung-wan (Veterans, The Berlin Files) clearly includes all the feelings of assembling each piece of film, whether the warmth of a father-son drama through a sweet and funny moment or a burning spirit baking a wound past a nation that has not completely recovered, The title refers to Hashima Island, the centre of the Japanese coal mine located 15 kilometres from Nagasaki, and operated from 1887 to 1974. It resembled a battleship, with a sturdy wall surrounding the island. The Battleship Island took the time when the Japanese occupation of Korea entered the final round, precisely in 1945 before World War II ended. Hundreds of Koreans were forced to work in Hashima, treated inhumanely. Without security procedures, the men wear only helmets and clothes that serve the level of the lower body. The threat of gas leak and mine collapsed reluctantly to be cared for. While women become entertainment lust. And not a single wage is accepted.

Kang-ok, a musician with fellow band and daughter, So-hee, hopes to get a better life in Japan. Unlucky, they were deceived and ended up as slaves in Hashima. There is also Choi Chil-sung (So Ji-sub) the gangster, then Park Moo-young (Song Joong-ki), a member of the Korean independence movement that carries out a mission to rescue a veteran fighter. Park mission is what will trigger a major upheaval in Hashima. Despite being inspired by real conditions, the conflicts and characters in Ryoo Seung-wan's manuscripts are entirely fictional. People's resistance, wars in the middle of the sea, elements of a prison break, all fiction. A "what if" scenario as a love letter for the past that not only contains empathy, it is a fire of fiery struggle, Through The Battleship Island Ryoo proves versatility as a director, especially in the complete blockbuster realm of packets that can infiltrate the various emotional spaces of the audience: the touching drama, the humour of laughter, the adrenaline-rich bombastic action. Ryoo's collaboration with cinematographer Lee Mo-gae produces perfect images representing every feeling of Kang-ok and So-hee's warmth as described by the opening paragraph, the grievances of various tortures received by the Korean people (the woman who rolls on the nail bed becomes the most painful thing ), until the sights thrill when the sunrise flag is stretched and then torn.

If Song Joong Ki as Park is a calculating brain, So Ji-sub through his first-class machismo is a muscle, then Hwang Jung-min and Kim Su-an are the heart of this film, the adhesive bonding the audience with the narration. With both of us, we laugh, with both of them we cry. Hwang's greatest strength comes from the eyes plus a smile on one occasion expressing silliness, then in the next opportunity implies incredibly strong sincere love. So did Kim. We will laugh watching this 11-year-old boy full of resentment responds to his father's behaviour, but who did not melt to see his tears fall?

There is no freezing moment along this 132-minute roller coaster duration of these emotions. Ryoo Seung-wan was good at building the atmosphere did not wear the results of the atmosphere slum setting to painful violence. Such as fights in the bathroom is very rough, brutal, fishing pain everybody hit the tile floor. The climax of the last 30 minutes of battle is reluctant to stop banging on the heart, stifling the chest from second to second. The camera moves in a dynamic, free-flying way covering every corner of the battle, music clashing with Adam Clement's loyal accompaniment, while Ryoo's script often slips one-liners into a heart-wrenching struggle. At this point we have connected with the characters, as a result, finds their desperate efforts, shoulder to shoulder to life for the sake of safety together to bring an unbroken emotional impact throughout the rolling climax. One of the most epic action sequences in years. The Battleship Island itself is a perfect modern blockbuster.