'The Battleship Island' Is a Gripping, Insightful WW II Epic

The Battleship Island is a WW II epic about the hundreds of Koreans who were conscripted or tricked into forced labor in the mining island of Hashima, which was nicknamed “Battleship Island” because of its similarity in shape with the Japanese battleship Tosa.  It follows an ensemble of characters as they suffer through perils and persecution, and how they eventually decide to break out of that hellish place.

The movie is kind of marketed as if Song Joong-ki is the lead character (or, at least, here in the Philippines).  This is definitely due to his popularity, being the star of Descendants of the Sun and all.  His character – Park Moo-young, an American-trained elite agent of the Korean independence movement – does play a significant part in the plot.  But the central character is arguably Lee Kang-ok, played by Hwang Jung-min, a bandmaster who will do whatever it takes to protect his feisty, talented daughter Lee So-hee (played by Kim Su-an, the little girl in Train to Busan).  Other important characters are the hooligan-with-a-heart Cho Chil-sung (So Ji-sub, known for many things including Oh My Venus) and the defiant comfort woman Oh Mal-nyeon (Lee Jung-hyun).   Everyone delivered stellar performances, though I feel Park Moo-young is constructed like an implausibly perfect, one-dimensional action hero (still good, though).

Considering its tragic premise, this is not a fun film at all.  In fact, my stomach churned and my emotion stirred a couple of times from all the horrible stuff it showed.  However, I was truly riveted from start to finish.   Its script subverts expectations and delivers the sensibilities of a solid thriller and an affecting drama, resulting to a gripping narrative.  It’s also visually impactful, as it executes violence with realistic brutality, doesn’t hold back in presenting disturbing details, and pulls off some inspired symbolism-heavy scenes.

There’s this one scene though, near the end of the film involving the death of the last villain, that stands out like a sour thumb because of how over-the-top and hokey it is amid the film’s gritty tone.  But aside from this, I can’t recall any major problems with this movie.

Some may find The Battleship Island having too much anti-Japanese sentiments.  Now, it does have that.  After all, the Japanese in this movie are straight up depicted as evil.  But I understand where that’s coming from.  Like us Filipinos, Koreans also suffered great atrocities from the Japanese during WW II; however, Koreans seems to be still harboring bitterness about it, while Filipinos have generally forgiven-and-forgotten.  So I do think this criticism against the movie – of feeling like propaganda – is valid.  But it’s not like the filmmaker is hiding this, as the epilogue text reveals, in an implied condemning tone, that the Japanese government has yet to comply with the requirement of posting information regarding the enormity of the forced labor in Hashima when it was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015.

Moreover, it also can be argued that its message is deeper than being a petty attempt to open up old wounds and stir anti-Japanese sentiments.  By centering on the horrible happening in Hashima, The Battleship Island could also be interpreted as an anti-war film that shows the human depravity that can – and did – spin off from war as well as the human tenacity that responds to it.  Yeah, this may be a naïve take on it, but this is how I prefer to consider the movie.

In the end, it’s not the best Korean film I’ve seen this year, but I liked The Battleship Island nonetheless.  It has great acting, direction, cinematography, and production value.  It’s a superiorly-crafted film, and emits an overall sense of lavish arthouse quality.  Amid its controversial choices, I think it’s adequately insightful and worthwhile.