Directed by: Hwang Dong-hyuk (황동혁)
Starring: Lee Byung-hun (이병헌), Kim Yoon-seok (김윤석), Park Hae-il (박해일), Go Soo (고수), Park Hee-soon (박희순), Song Young-chang (송영창), Jo Woo-jin (조우진)
The Film: Qing Dynasty forces have invaded Joseon during the harsh winter of the year 1636, causing the King of Joseon and his closest ministers to take refuge in a fortress atop a mountain where they are protected by only the geography of the land and a small fighting force of roughly 13,000 men. The Qing demand that Joseon sever its ties with the Ming Empire and pledge loyalty to Qing exclusively, which would only be recognized after sending Joseon’s crown prince to Qing as a hostage.
As the Qing forces begin to amass in the foothills threatening an all out siege of the fortress if their demands are not met, King Injo’s top advisers enter a fierce debate over how to proceed as the future of Joseon lies in the balance of their conflicting counsel to the King. Meanwhile, as the bitter cold of winter takes its toll upon the ill-prepared Joseon forces, bloody skirmishes unfold along the mountainside.
The core drama within The Fortress lies in the contrasting counsels given to King Injo (Park Hae-il) by his top ministers. Minister Choi (Lee Byung-hun) favors a strategy of mere survival, and after getting an up-close look at the invading Qing forces he calculates Joseon’s odds of resisting a full on assault at near zero, putting him in the minority camp of suggesting that the King submit to the dishonorable terms of surrender laid out by Qing. Minister Kim (Kim Yoon-seok) on the other hand holds the honor of Joseon and its people above all else and favors a military strategy of resistance, arguing for a more heavily reinforced army capable of fighting down to Joseon’s last man before ever giving in to the Qing who are often referred to as barbarian invaders. He even takes it upon himself to task a brave citizen soldier (Go Soo) with a secret mission of sending word to a southern camp to rally reinforcements. Finally there is Prime Minister Kim (Song Young-chang) who seems to hold his own self preservation at a much higher yield than the other ministers yet still gives his all for upholding reverence of the kingdom. He finds himself on both sides of the argument at times depending on how successful he views the plan to look at different points in time.
The Fortress does a great job at giving audiences a glimpse of what palace politics were like in the most dire of times. Rarely have deliberations been this interesting. The three-way dynamic established by the contrasting counsels given to the king becomes increasingly gripping as each minister pleads with the king to hear him out with each one sort of checking the other in real time as the counsels evolve into ever intensifying stakes of life and death.
Moreover, The Fortress is fascinating in its portrayal of the debates among the ministers, as each minister never directly addresses the other, as would be customary in more Western debate scenarios, and simply plead their case harder directly towards the King as they hope their seeds of logic eventually take root and become king’s ultimate decided course of action. Even as the ministers call for each other’s heads, emotions are largely controlled and reverence towards the king is maintained at all times, making for even the slightest drop of spilled tears ever the more powerful as the ministers become overwhelmed with emotion.
The high stakes dramatic deliberations of The Fortress are complimented by some of the most beautifully composed images seen in a long time. From the expanse of the snow covered mountains and chaotic frenzy of battlefields to the carefully lined rows of ministers as they face their king within the intimate quarters of a makeshift throne room, there is an ever present symmetry displayed within each shot of the film that is nothing short of breathtaking at times. Accompanied by Ryuichi Sakamoto’s beautiful yet foreboding score, The Fortress is a rare treat for the senses in addition to its engaging series of events as they unfold.
Many Korean films based on historical events that have clear “enemies of Korea” as the antagonist(s) often have the tendency of oversimplifying the villains into cartoonish representations of evil that borderline on caricatures of what they most probably were, thus making it a bit challenging at times to sympathize with the victims. The Fortress does slightly suffer from some of this but it is leaps and bounds better at giving an extra dimensional layer to its unlikable aggressors than its contemporaries like in The Battleship Island. Jo Woo-jin who plays the Qing general’s Korean translator for instance gets an opportunity to give several reasons that explain what caused him to turn his back on his Joseon heritage, ultimately adding to a more realistic sense of history where no nation is without its blemishes.
Overall The Fortress is a very well made historical drama film based on one of the more painful moments in the complex history of a people who have been subjected to numerous invasions and an ever changing geographical and political landscape. MINOR SPOILER: The particular invasion portrayed in The Fortress was particularly degrading in its eventual terms of surrender which called for the Joseon King to ceremoniously bow to the Qing Emperor a humiliating nine times in addition to being forced to give up his two sons to be held captive in China, and could in some ways be described as the beginning of the end of Joseon :END SPOILER.
And while the international marketing of The Fortress might make it look like an action film in the same vein as the more recent The Great Battle, another film about an invading force laying siege to a fortress, it is worth noting that The Fortress is primarily a drama film with a few intermittent well-made battle sequences within. With actor performances at an all-time high, there should be nothing stopping you from checking out The Fortress as soon as you get a chance. SCORE: 8.5/10
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