Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Kim Yoon-seok, Heo Joon-ho In-Sung Jo, Kyung-hye Park
Intro:
… a startlingly brutal and gripping action film.
With the onslaught of distressing imagery of a war-torn Ukraine being splashed across every conceivable news medium at present, it’s difficult to watch Ryoo Seung-wan’s Escape from Mogadishu without being reminded of the tragedy playing out in real time.
Depicting the genesis of the Somali Civil War in 1991, the film eerily echoes many of the stories that confront us today, from heart-wrenching moments of families being ripped apart to scenes of all-out destruction.
Escape from Mogadishu views the overthrowing of Siad Barre’s military junta through the eyes of both the foreign UN delegates attempting to flee the carnage and the Somalian natives trying to survive it.
Specifically, the film uses the politically fraught relationship between South and North Korea (represented by Kim Yoon-seok and Heo Joon-ho playing their respective ambassadors) as a microcosm of the rivalries that must be overcome to escape the greater, more imminent threat. Initially framing the two countries’ antagonism through the lens of a relatively petty dispute over a suitcase of diplomatic gifts, the film’s emotional arc hinges on whether these leaders can eventually reconcile their troubled history.
Mileage will vary as to the success of the film in this sense — as an historical re-enactment — based on each viewer’s familiarity with the nations’ complicated affiliation. However, irrespective of the plot’s realism, it works exceptionally well as a thriller.
The possibility of one side having to defect to the other before they collaborate presents a seemingly insurmountable political hurdle obstructing their desperation to return home. It becomes a battle of wills, with neither ambassador ready to bend to the other.
The film’s ultimate achievement is hinted at in its title. Despite its admirable heart and advocacy of reconciliation, Ryoo Seung-wan has, above all, crafted a startlingly brutal and gripping action film. Once the rebel United Somali Congress makes their presence known, the tone shifts completely. The sequences of violence on the streets are unrelenting, confronting, and bloody. Nothing about this film shies away from the reality of its inspiration. More upsetting still are the scenes involving children — not the violence inflicted upon them, but rather how the USC has recruited them as pawns in their coup.
The jewel in the film’s battered and bruised crown is the climactic convoy chase sequence — the ambassadors’ rudimentarily reinforced cars run the gauntlet of Mogadishu on their way to freedom, under heavy fire from the USC. The camerawork here is breathtaking as our POV scuttles from one car to the next in frantic single takes.
It is little wonder that this was the highest grossing Korean film of 2021. While it may fall slightly flat in terms of its aspiration to be a searing political drama, those seeking a meticulously choreographed and strikingly shot action thriller will find little to complain about.
