Silmido (2004)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Tsubaki S

  
  Based on a very infamous historical event, Silmido is a big-budget energetic action flick. And yet, despise said approach to such spicy material, it works. Maybe because for such a hard-hitting piece like this, an "art/house" approach would do nothing but sedate the spirit… More
  Based on a very infamous historical event, Silmido is a big-budget energetic action flick. And yet, despise said approach to such spicy material, it works. Maybe because for such a hard-hitting piece like this, an "art/house" approach would do nothing but sedate the spirit of the story. A mixed bunch of criminals and civilians are send to an island to suffer a brutal trainning in order to kill the North Korean president of that time. This fueled by a failed attempt from the North to do the same with SK president, which made the whole nation go out to the streets and burn pictures of the NK president and all that jazz. But the whole operation is shut down after the tension cools down, and now the goverment want's to put to sleep the same blood-thirsty beast they created. At that point the film takes some predictable, and also some not-so-predictable twists. Yet it manages to remain quite beliavable for the most part. The film can't escape some cheap patriotic moments, yet everything makes perfect sense in the context of the story. A group of men who have nothing else to live for will grab any lifesaver they can to stay a float. The irony of the nationalistic brain-wash these men get impacts to the reality of a country that couldn't care less about using human guinea pigs to satisfy the ego of said country. The film also works thanks to the solid cast. So, Silmido might not be the most objective history lesson one could get, but it's certainly one that is not easy to ignore. Any nation must be careful for what they wish, because it can always happen, in one way or another. Usually, in the nastiest way possible.