First and foremost this was a great film that I really
enjoyed. Wish I watched it on a bigger screen because the mise-en-scene and the
cinematography were amazing!
Back to the blog post – this is going to be an experimental
one, so bear with me and bring your ideas on it to class!
One of the things that struck me when I watched the film was
the reference to what is happening in Seoul, and the discussion of rural versus
urban, and the battle of ideas, and the United States versus South Korea. What
I am going to focus on here is how this all relates to the June Democracy
movement of 1987.
When detective Seo Tae-yoon is introduced, he steps in as an
intellectual savior who is coming in with new and rational ideas to help this
superstitious, backwashed, rural, police station where the officers seems
righteous, but misguided, by failed common practices. Where it is more
important to do “something” than take the time, sit back, and analyze. The
stupidity of the police officers is mirrored by their responses to the mentally
challenged Kwang-ho Baek who unjustly is imprisoned and tortured until he comes
up with the answers the officers want. In the background Seo Tae-yoon is analyzing
the situation, taking his time, and coming up with conservative approaches to fight
the murderer on the murderers on terms, by slowly and covertly trying to
decipher who he is by analyzing the situation. To the other police officers
great annoyance, that we see manifest itself in the fights between inspector
Park and Seo.
In the background of the film we hear about the uprisings
around the country. One of the times the murderer is allowed to kill is when
the police force does not get extra troops on the streets because there is an
uprising in Suwon. The other protest is also reported on (I think as it is in
Korean) in the BBQ fight scene where Yong-Gu hurts his foot. What we are here
talking about is the 1987 demonstrations against the regime and the initial
June Uprising that led to the first democratic election.
If we mirror the film to the events before and after the
June Uprising we can analyze the rural detectives as a metaphor for the long-term
protest movement who has been fighting against the government for some time. Their
methods are outdated and they are not able to come up with a long-term solution
to the hidden violator (the murderer or the violent state). The character of
Seo Tae-yoon is a representation of the white collar workers who are educated
and do not see the methods of the officers (the early protestors) as
worthwhile, but hopes that with new technology and a new methodology that they
will be able to beat the violator(s)at their own game. And in a sense, yes they
do break new grounds, they do get very close to catching the killer
(overthrowing the old regime), but they are dependent on support from the
United States. They do get the support, but in the end the help is not enough
to get anyone convicted and, in terms of Korean government: Roh Tae-woo is
elected regardless of the efforts by the June Uprising and the murderer walks
away despite the efforts of Seo Tae-yoon.
The reaction of Seo Tae-yoon when he realizes that his effort
has been in vain and that the murderer can walk away free causes him to act violently
and try the old violent means that the others have been doing. The twist of the
story is, then, that the rural officer, inspector Park, comes in and
intervenes. Realizing that the murderer will walk away freely but that there
will be other ways of catching him later, in time, with the right means. In
terms of the June Uprising and the democratic election, the reaction of Tae-yoon
can be seen as how the new white collar workers, who had been protesting in the
hopes that Korea would change, also came to the realization that it did not
work out the way they planned. They could have answered with going back to
violence against the state, but chose differently.
This begs the question in the end of the film. Did the
murderer get away? Is Korea still haunted by this violent state?
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