I caught the premiere of the highly acclaimed Korean movie, ‘Escape from Mogadishu’ at GV Suntec last week. In Korea, this movie is currently the highest grossing movie in 2021, surpassing even ‘Black Widow’. But unless you are aware of Korea’s political history, the movie may not have caught your attention.
Gist
In 1991, both North and South Korea were not part United Nations yet. The African continent had the most votes within UN and both countries used all diplomatic means (open and underhand) to win these votes from the government of Somalia while being stationed in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capitol.
Civil war broke out in January 1991, and everyone, including the embassy staff of both North and South Korea were caught up in the war. Within days, with chaos and lawlessness descending upon the capitol, trying to stay alive and leaving the war-torn country safely became priority.
Putting aside their differences, the diplomats from both countries, who were publicly and politically divided, pulled their resources together and embarked on a joint escape.
Overview
This is an action packed movie and within the first 15 minutes, there was already a car hijack with bullets flying all over.
The action built up and the second half of the movie had me at the edge of my seat most of the time. Although, like most action movies, it did seemed incredulous that they managed to doge all those bullets unharmed.
Initially, I did wonder if either side would betray each other. There were certainly enough hints that it may happened. But I think they portrayed realistically how they may be feeling at that time. Can you trust your sworn enemy?
The ambassador of North Korea and South Korea were played by veterans Heo Joon Ho and Kim Yoon Seok and they brought credibility to the characters and emotional conflicts they faced- do they uphold their own principles and honour as representatives of their countries or do they act and behave as human beings should in times of war to help each other?
The counselor of North Korea, Tae Joon Ki (Koo Kyo Hwan) and the counselor of South Korea, Kang Dae Jin (Jo In Sung) are both equally brash, impulsive but brave. But their behavior made it difficult for me to believe they are intelligence officers and perhaps could have done with more character development. Jo In Sung especially is capable of more than just swaging and shouting.
In the final scene, strapping their cars with a protective shield of books (above picture), the four cars of about 20+ people made their way to the Italian embassy for the flight out of Mogadishu. If you enjoy James Bond/ Mission Impossible/ Bourne movies, you will definitely enjoy the car chase segment, which I think lasted for a good 15-20 minutes. So it’s a movie you should watch on the big screen. Although I must say I thought of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when I saw the photo.
The movie costs W24 million and was filmed in Morocco. It was supposed to be released in 2020 but was delayed due to COVID-19.
Watching the movie brings to mind the similar situation in Afghanistan, especially with everyone scrambling to depart from Kabul, which was sobering. Also, I gained an important information why the North Korea diplomats could not/ would not defect even though they were given a chance to.
The two men providing the eye candies. I did a double take when I saw Koo Kyo Hwan in the first scene as he looked like Jo In Sung with the sun glasses.
This movie is based on true story, though with some changes of course. You can read the interview with the actual former Korean ambassador to Somalia Kang Shin Sung then here.
‘Escape from Mogadishu’ opens on 2 September 2021 in Singapore. Remember the rules for vaccinated and non vaccinated at the cinemas and make the necessary arrangements.
Photos credit: IMDB
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