Summary
The biggest South Korean release of the year is a top-notch action thriller set against not-too-distant history.
In January 1991, amidst rising rebellion and the ultimate collapse of Somali President Barre’s government, foreign embassies were evacuated. Arguably the most famous of these was Operation Eastern Exit, the name given to the military evacuation of the US embassy in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.
Ryoo Seung-wan, who we last saw behind the camera for the large-scale war film The Battleship Island, takes the evacuation of the Korean embassies as the basis for his action film. Kicking off with the arrival of Counsellor Kang Dae-jin (Jo In-sung) of South Korean intelligence, Ryoo and co-writer Lee Ki-cheol (Assassination) sets the scene with a ragtag group of ambassadorial staff attempting to gain an audience with the Somali authorities.
Led by Han Sin-seong, the South Korean ambassador to Somalia, their efforts are thwarted by the more influential North Korean embassy and their ambassador Rim Yong-su (Heo Joon-ho). Shot at by rebels, and intimidated by police, the South Koreans feel completely cut off when violence escalates in the capital. Unable to get word from home, they unexpectedly find themselves working with the North Koreans in an attempt to flee the country.
As you might guess from the exciting title, ESCAPE FROM MOGADISHU (모가디슈) isn’t so much a nuanced exploration of a major geopolitical event as it is a ripper of an blockbuster film. Blending fictionalised accounts with a non-fiction backdrop (as he did with The Battleship Island), every inch of its ₩24 billion (or US $20 million) budget can be seen on screen.
From the moment the group decides to leave their compounds, Ryoo’s film is filled with tense stand-offs and big-scale sprints across the city. As the clique attempts to make their way across the city at night, surrounded by burning objects and random gunfire, we the audience are right in there with them. Ryoo really ramps up the thrills in a spectacular sequence in which several cars, covered in books as bullet shields, try and muscle their way through the blockades. This is contemporary South Korean action at the top of its game.
Some characterisations are going to be questionable. The local Somali cops, for example, are depicted as literally toothless thugs. The only other real sense we get of the country is either through armed rebels or the aftermath of violence in the streets. At least all of this fleetingly acknowledges the devastating impact it had on the people of Somalia, even if the main thrust of the film is getting out of there. On the flip side, the cooperation between North and South Korea — even on this micro scale — seems positively optimistic, even if the 1990s setting condemns its longevity.
Ryoo’s casting is also top-notch. Jo In-sung, seen recently heading up The Great Battle (2018), is suitably enigmatic as the intelligence Counsellor. Meanwhile, Heo Joon-ho is perfectly cast as the North Korean ambassador, bringing just the right levels of menace and pathos when called for. Yet the emotional core is invested in Another Child‘s Kim Yoon-seok, a man adept at playing recent historical personas in 1987: When the Day Comes (2017) and Dark Figure of Crime (2018).
The aftermath of this event, and broader Somali Civil War, has famously been depicted by Ridley Scott in Black Hawk Down (2001). Although playing out on a small scale, and with a drastically smaller budget, Ryoo skilfully manoeuvres the audience to a bittersweet ending via a breathless series of spectacularly staged action sequences. Already the highest grossing South Korean action film of the year, it will no doubt join the ranks of A Taxi Driver (2017) in being one of the favourites of the year too.
ESCAPE FROM MOGADISHU is the opening night film of the New York Asian Film Festival 2021. A theatrical season will follow.
2021 | South Korea | DIRECTOR: Ryoo Seung-wan | WRITER: Ryoo Seung-wan, Lee Ki-cheol | CAST: Kim Yoon-seok, Jo In-sung, Heo Joon-ho, Kim So-jin | DISTRIBUTOR: Well Go USA, NYAFF 2021 | RUNNING TIME: 121 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6 August 2021 (NYAFF 2021)
