Reviews

Saw this back in the 90s some time. As I recall, a good number of the "thinkers" interviewed came off as completely incoherent. And when they did attain some level of clarity in their presentation, the ideas expressed often bore no relation to reality( eg. everyone should be released from jail because all criminals are political activists). Buckminster Fuller's observations were especially rambling.

But if you get the chance, this film is worth a look, if only to help you understand why the counterculture eventually fell flat on its face. Plus, proof positive that Fuller's reputation as a profound thinker was completely without basis.

A young gangster is subjected to rigorous academic training(well, by mob standards) in order to infiltrate a police department on behalf of his "syndicate". Once on the inside, he experiences divided loyalties. Slow-moving and pretty unoriginal, with a rather tiresome approach to violence. Like most post-Tarantino gangster flicks, this one strives for philosophical depth, which is achieved largely through having the title character recite a few lines from Socrates and Machiavelli at various points throughout the movie.

That said, I'm personally not a huge fan of the gangster genre, but if you are you might find this worth your while.

A well-meaning but politically naive barber gets pulled into the inner circle of the South Korean dictator Park Chung-Hee, with rather baleful consequences for his hapless family. This sharp political satire covers roughly twenty years in South Korean political history, from the viewpoint of the barber's son.

Of particular interest to Korean history buffs will be the portrayal of Gerneral Park himself. While the film acknowledges the dictator's laid-back charm and understated charisma, it also leaves no doubt about the vicious nature of the repression which he oversaw. The contrast between Park's appealing personal style and the brutal actions of his underlings makes for a useful observation about the dangers of charismatic leadership.

Alternating the action between the presidential residence and a nearby neighborhood, with occasional stops in the torture chambers of the police state and the countryside dwelling of a shamanistic healer, the narrative deftly manages a multi-front satire on Korean society during the middle Cold War period. And though the script is unsparing in its acerbic view of Park and his clique, it generally avoids the smug cheap shots that often blight similar cinematic forays into political satire. Park's ordinary admirers are seen as misguided, sometimes even rascally, but are left with their basic humanity intact and never treated as objects of outright contempt.

General Park's remaining fans(of which there are quite a few, it seems)will probably take issue with the script's omission of any reference to the social and economic advances that took place under his watch. Park haters, on the other hand, might resent the portrayal of this murderous dictator as a soft-spoken and genial family man. Such caveats aside, this film is highly recommended to fans of political satire and anyone with an interest in Korean history.