LAW & ORDER, VIA SOUTH KOREA
Movie tells a still relevant tale of how small actions can bring about big change
The relative freedom and civil liberties South Koreans enjoy today are also a relatively new development, as Joon-hwan Jang’s new based-in-fact film reminds us. 1987: When the Day Comes looks back 30 years to when the country was ruled by a military regime that turned a blind eye to intimidation of the media and police torture of civilians.
The style is that of a very long and complicated episode of Law & Order. There’s even some clackity-clack typing to introduce characters and indicate place and time. I half expected to hear “Dun, dun!” after every scene.
The populist uprising in 1987 began with the death of a student radical in police custody. Director Park (Yun-seok Kim), the North Korean-born head of the South’s anti-communist forces, wants to cremate the body and move on, but the hard-drinking, plays-byhis-own rules prosecutor Choi (Jung-woo Ha) won’t allow it.
So the main characters are pretty standard types, as indeed are the aggressive reporter, the well-meaning priest, the virtuous prison guard and his helpful niece, whose romantic interest in a student protester is perhaps the film’s silliest misstep.
But Jang tells the story with panache and a flair for the wellplaced match cut, like the shot of falling snow that gradually fades into an image of the ashes of the dead student. There’s also a very clever scene in which Choi is able to hand some secret files over to a journalist in full view of security officials, with no one the wiser.
The result is a somewhat melodramatic retelling of an episode in South Korean history. Those with an interest in the region will benefit the most from this story, but it also illustrates how seemingly small actions can gradually bring about huge change. That’s as true in 2018 as it was in 1987.