‘Battleship Island’
New film shows a battle between history, commercialism
The title of the movie “The Battleship Island” (Gunhamdo) refers to Hashima Island, off the coast of Nagasaki in Japan which was said to look like a battleship. The island was owned by the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi who turned the entire island into a coal mining factory with which they made huge sums of money.
In the 1940s, during Japan’s colonization of Korea, the Japanese brought in Korean laborers to the island, tricking them into thinking that they would make a good living, when the reality was they would be forced into harsh underground labor (1 kilometer below sea level) mining coal. A large number of Koreans were drafted to work there from 1943 to 1945.
Many individual attempts were made to escape the island, but in vain, as the fierce tides swallowed them up. Even those who did manage to swim to Nagasaki, did not live long — they died from the United States’ bombing of the region.
The story of this tragedy was made into a film by Korean director Ryoo Seung-wan and will open in theaters July 26.
In Ryoo’s version of the story, however, the Korean laborers make a bold attempt to escape the island, not individually, but as a group. It more or less becomes a “battle” between the escapers and the Japanese enslavers inside the “battleship” island as well as a battle between history and fiction and commercialism as the storyline begins to blur in confusion.
“Since I am not a documentary producer, I wanted the Koreans in my world to escape from that island. I think that’s the prerogative of a movie director. It’s also my personal hope expressed through imagination,” said Ryoo during a press preview held Wednesday.
“I did not intend to educate people on the history of the island in the beginning. That was not my first intent. But as I filmed, I felt an urge to let the word out, more out of responsibility. What initially inspired me to create this film was a photograph of the island which made me imagine what would have happened inside it.”
As evident in Ryoo’s past works such as “Berlin” and “Veteran,” the director’s work is more about action than anything else. Battleship Island is no exception. Whereas it begins looking like a historical film, it turns into an action thriller half way through and resembles a Hollywood blockbuster with superhero characters.
The film features a star-studded cast including Hwang Jung-min, So Ji-sub, Song Joong-ki, Lee Jung-hyun and Kim Soo-ahn but because of the multi-casting of several big names, none seem to stand out. Song Joong-ki is the superhero character in this film, suddenly appearing out of nowhere to lead the mass out of the mess. He is a member of the Office of Strategic Services, trying to rescue independence fighters. So, who used to play main characters in other movies, now seems secondary to Song. He is the macho hero, leader of a Korean gang, who backs up Song to protect the crowd. Singer-turned-actress Lee Jung-hyun’s existence is buried under other characters. She plays a comfort woman who is strong and courageous. But the real gems in this film are Hwang Jung-min and the 11-year-old Kim Soo-ahn, who plays his daughter. The father and daughter combo, who perform in a band, makes this film come to life, giving the audience laughter and warmth.
Why did Ryoo turn this into an escape film?
“Three reasons. First, I interpreted escaping the island as escaping from the tangled past. There’s future only when the past is cleared,” he said.
“I also thought it was an escape from Hell Joseon. I think I subconsciously desired that,” he said, expressing a rather pessimistic view.
“But I also like escape films. I have watched them since I was young and desired one day to make one of my own.”
Ryoo said there is “no such thing as a must-see movie.”
“It is your choice to see it or not. But I think it is necessary to know the history of Gunhamdo,” he said.
The Hashima coal mine and 23 industrial relics of the Meiji Revolu- tion were listed as UNESCO’s World Heritage in 2015, under great difficulty. It was accepted, however, under the condition, strongly demanded by the Korean government and supported by UNESCO, that Japan clearly states the unbiased history of the island including the forced labor of Koreans and that they establish an information center on the island.
The Japanese government had to accept this demand and is obliged to report to the UNESCO on its plan of action by the end of the year. The international community is keeping an eye on it to ensure that the Japanese government implements its commitments made to UNESCO in July 2015 so that the world cannot forget the atrocities perpetrated by imperial Japan.