[KFCC] Silmido Review

Story: In 1968, a group of North-Korean commandos composed of 31 men cross the border in an attempt to assassinate South-Korea president Park Chung-hee. The South-Korea military intercept the commandos before they successfully accomplished their mission. This scandalous attempt outrages the South-Korea Central Intelligence Agency, and therefore decide replicate the North-Korean attempt by sending their own group of 31 men behind the Northern border to kill Kim Il-sung, the North-Korea leader.

The group, codenamed Unit 684, is secretly developed on an isolated island, with no one except a few executive government members aware of the project. To compose Unit 684, death row inmates were given a second chance, or more specifically, an ultimatum: to be terminated or join the special unit team. By the end of their tumultuous training, these men will be known as some of the most amazing soldiers South Korea will have ever produced. However, when the time finally comes, the political situation, which is turning into a more positive relation between the two nations, the whole mission is cancelled. In fact, the simple existence of these nameless commandos is becoming a peace threat in the eyes of the South-Korean government to the point that Unit 684 will have to be needed to be eliminated.

Review: We could argue indefinitely about how a true story should be adapted for the movie screen. Should things be added to the plot to make a more vibrant impression on the viewers or leave everything as close as possible to the real events, but at the same time remove possible dramatic and action? SILMIDO, even if it sounds like a Dirty Dozen remake, was based on true events that took place between 1968 and 1971 in South-Korea. The movie was highly criticized by politicians because of major plot changes in the story, which made the government of the time look very inhuman toward the soldiers. This more fiction than reality plot, which I would acknowledge was indeed very effective, would have suffered from not having these changes included, no doubt. Without going in too much detail to not spoil anything past the premise, I would suggest to do some research after the viewing to compare the real facts and the movie. You can find out that some changes have clearly been done to maximize the dramatic impact of the story.

The first part of the film introduces the characters. You learn a bit of the past of some of these men who have decided to become soldiers for their country. Each of the men is assigned a personal trainer, an official military soldier who will follow him closely during his training. The physical pain that the trainers will give to these men will not make them very likable toward the new soldiers. However, with time some will develop a close friendship, a friendship that will have an interesting conclusion for these soldiers. Kyung-gu Sol (Public Enemy) plays the focus character of the movie, a gangster who was on trial for murder. Kyung-gu So’s commitment to his characters is always amazing and, again in Silmido, he ends up being the back bone of the film, even with the amazing pool of actors the movie already features.

Another powerful figure in the movie is Sung-kee Ahn, who is an icon of Korean cinema. In the movie he plays the role of the commander in chief of the soldier. He’s the one responsible for the prefecture of the training of these misfits turned soldiers. Since Unit 684 was composed of 31 men, we only see maybe 10 characters having a fair development, which is understandable, as it would have been much longer. The development is done well enough to understand and feel pity for the fate of these men.

SILMIDO is built more around drama than action. In the first part, we can see the hard training these men had to go through. In the second, friendships are developed and the drama is amped up, and then the final part turns into a strong action flick. The second part is the slowest and at one point you are wondering where the movie wants to go. However, when you reach the end, the reason why this movie had to be made suddenly comes to life. Everything makes sense and you understand all the controversy behind this dramatic historical event.

Even if this whole story has cultural relations to the Korean people, it is not necessary to have a deep Korean historical background. Those who do will probably enjoy and understand the political context more, but anyone who likes action and war films should find the movie very interesting. As a historical account, SILMIDO might not be the right movie, but it successfully puts in enough fireworks to keep the viewer on a good level of entertainment, and at the same time, teach you something interesting about the South Korean history.

For more information about the true story behind SILMIDO, I would suggest you to read this report. If you never saw the film, don’t bother to read it yet as it will spoil you some aspects of the story. CLICK HERE!