Until the last 73 years, Korea has almost always been ruled or occupied by another country. The film I recently watched, The Battleship Island, focuses on the Japanese occupation of Korea during World War II. This movie illustrates the lives of 400 Koreans that were forced to work in a labor camp on Hashima Island and their escape. (Hashima Island is also more widely known by the name Battleship Island because of it’s silhouette.) This movie is dramatic, but shows the realistic tragedies of war.
Before we precede with the movie, let me give some background history. It was 1945, the last year of the World War II. Japan at the time was behind the Americans in the Industrialization Revolution, so to keep up they started mining under the sea on Hashima island. During that time the Japanese occupied Korea, and many times they were used against their will for labor and as ‘comfort women’ or sex slaves. These tragic events all shown in the movie. The end had officially begun when bombs were dropped on Japan. Though it was a victory for Korean liberation, many of their people lived there also and died with the Japanese.
So, I am here to let the world know that even though these heart wrenching films are not the most fun to watch, they are the most important. In the midst of that, I hope I can convince you to see this fantastic film.
Firstly, you are able to buy it on your American devices (it’s about time). It, unfortunately, takes way too long for foreign films to come to the US but wait no longer! It came out 2 weeks ago! Since this movie came out in July of 2017, it has won many, many awards in Korea, 13+. Those awards include: top 10 films, best feature-length film, best supporting actress, best art direction, and lots of actors and actress awards.
To say that The Battleship Island went all out when it came to actors, is absolutely an understatement. The most popular of them are Song Jongki and Kim Suan. The many reason why I heard about this movie was because of actor Song Jongki, who in 2016 was the main male lead in the TV drama Descendants of the Sun. Descendants of the Sun was consistently the most top viewed show of the summer, and is STILL winning awards. Next, Kim Suan was in the most popular movie of 2016, Train to Busan. She is an amazing 12 year old actress that I know we will be seeing in many films and shows to come.
What I love most about these kinds of films is that it has a good way to introduce parts of history that you never see in a textbook. For the longest time I did not know about the Japanese occupation, and I for sure did not know about its forced labor.
To pair with that, top complaints from movie critics was that it was too ambitious and too dramatic. While I do agree that some parts of the movie could have flowed together more smoothly, it was much better than I expected. Also, the director Ryoo Seung-wan has said many times that war makes a monster of us, and he really wanted that to be seen in his movie.
However, many like to forget about these portions of history, for example, at the end of the movie it is said that the Japanese applied to UNESCO to give the island World Heritage Status. Sadly, they will not acknowledge the many Koreans and others that died because of that horrible place. They say it was not implied to be forced labor, but I guess that the truth will die with the survivors, if it has not already.
So when you are scrolling through Netflix I hope you give this movie a chance. These people deserve a place in our history and our hearts.