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.
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