Glimpses of WWII through the Korean perspective: Raw, dirty, and real

SOUTH Korea, well-known for its equal balance of green, hilly countryside painted with cherry trees, cyan lakes, age-old temples, and cities upgraded with the latest technology and filled with towering skyscrapers, released The Battleship Island, a historical film about a group of Korean prisoners faced with adversity and eventually were riled to attempt an escape out of the island they were forced to work in.

With Battleship Island, a product of a four-year research, director Ryoo Seung-wan tore open a significant part of Korea’s history, and delivered a raw fictionalized depiction of the World War II (WWII) that the Koreans have experienced.

He showed it burnt and bleeding for the whole world to see, and showed how every great nation must lie and grovel in the mud before it can get to the top.

In the film, Ryoo Seung-wan carefully deconstructed the complicated balance of human altruism and cynicism that can only be seen during a time of war. The movie had been based on the historical Japanese wartime abuse and torture experienced by Korean civilians during WWII, just before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Seung-wan places a musician father, Lee Gang-Ok, and his singing, tap-dancing daughter, So Hee, amidst the chaos brought upon by war. The father-daughter, along with their band, were thrown into one of the Japanese occupation’s coal mining labor camps, Hashima, or famously called Battleship Island due to its resemblance to that of a Japanese warship.

Gang-Ok was forced to work as a miner and was separated from his daughter who was forced to become a “comfort woman” or a Japanese prostitute. Gang-Ok charmed his way through with his ability to speak Japanese; this helped him become the middle-man between his fellow Koreans and the higher-ups in charge.

He helped plot an escape with elite independence group member, Park Moo-Young, who was set on freeing the 400 Koreans from Hashima.

Seung-wan explored the many conflicts brought upon by the Korean’s oppressors in the movie by piling it with layers and layers of different themes.

In the movie, the cynical humanism present in calamity and war was shown. The people were seen shifting from the life they have become comfortable with—a life of labor, abuse, and pain.

The protagonists started thinking of survival; they became selfish and self-serving. Ryoo justifies the reason for the growth of human interest and why the protagonists were forced to act in a way that would be seen as selfish. He justifies that in actuality by explaining that these people were merely trying to survive—just as what humans have always done. The characters are forced to steal, to betray their countrymen, to start fights, to beat others—all for survival. The worst of situations forces man to either adapt to the severity of the story or be left behind by the rough flow of the plot.

Ryoo also presents that life is not just black and white. No situation is purely good, and no situation is purely bad. This is evident in the moments where despite being forced to deal with angry, abusive Japanese soldiers Gang-Ok and So Hee still managed to spend time together with bright smiles on their faces.

Ryoo makes use of music as another layer that helps convey the sense of bold nationalism and the protagonists’ resistance to their captors.

With the movie nearing its end, Ryoo captures the rawness and filthiness brought by adversity through the depiction of a black-and-white still of So Hee looking straight into the camera, with eyes full of emotion and ghosts of war.

The average person goes through life clueless of the horrors life can throw at someone. Through movies and stories told by veterans, man become sympathetic and aware of the true essence of a certain occurrence.

The Battleship Island is a true-to-life story that can hit something close to home; it can make someone want to learn more and feel more. With the Battleship Island, Ryoo Seung-wan showcased his craftsmanship with another film that has encapsulated the raw and dirty grit of war.