Film Review: Shiri (1999)

20th Century was extremely cruel to Korea. For most of its first part Koreans were under Japanese yoke only to liberation be marred by ideological divisions that would escalate into fratricidal and unimaginably destructive war. That conflict ended in the worst way possible – without clear victors and with country being permanently divided into two bitterly opposed states, with the southern part only at the latter decades evolving into something that could be described as proper democracy. Many Southern Koreans at the end of 20th Century felt deep frustration over such state of affairs and the desire for Korean reunification found its way into content of Shiri, 1999 action film written and directed by Kang Je-gyu.

The plot begins in 1992 in a North Korean special forces camp where young woman named Hee (played by Yunjin Kim) goes through brutal training after which he would be infiltrated as sleeper agent into South. Six years later she has already assassinated number of top South Korean scientists. Two South Korean security service agents – Yu Jung-won (played by Han Suk-kyu) and Lee Jang-gil (played by Song Kang-ho) – are trying to find who mysterious assassin is, but all their efforts so far were fruitless. While Yu Jung-won has to deal with his recovering alcoholic girlfriend Lee Bang-hee, both men are frustrated with the fact that the mysterious sniper is always one step ahead, so they begin to suspect treacherous leak from within their service. Additional pressure is brought by good will football game between North and South Korean teams that would take place in Seoul and be attended by two countries’ leaders. At the same time, small team of North Korean commandos led by Park Mu-young (played by Choi Min-isk), former Hee’s mentor, arrives to South and steal batch of immensely destructive CTX explosive from South Korean government lab. Yu Jung-won now has to clear his name for any suspicions, catch the sniper, protect his girlfriend and try prevent Park Mu-young and his men from carrying their destructive mission.

Shiri was the biggest hit in South Korean cinemas at its time, surpassing box office records of Titanic two years earlier. This success is often explained with South Korean cinema industry discovering enough material resources and talents to battle Hollywood in its own game and producing action spectacle very much like those that dominated and still dominate global box office. Shiri, on the other hand, also give away influence of Hong Kong cinema, at least its films of “heroic bloodshed” variety, with action scenes with much more participants, much fore used ammunition and much bigger and more graphically displayed body count than in Hollywood films. Writer and director Kang Je-gyu has tried to mix much of that mayhem with more subdued and “normal” scenes. Some of this efforts weren’t too successful, like the romantic subplot bwtween Yu Jong-won and his girlfriend. The ending is a little overlong and looks too much as the ordinary Hollywood action film.

Shiri has done well on other Asian markets, but it is a film with its roots clearly in South Korea and it reflects on film’s content. It clearly displays modern democratic South Korea as technologically and in all other ways superior to the North (with Samsung, company that helped the production, enjoying plenty of product placements). On the other hand, the title itself refers to species of fish that swims in rivers and streams within Demilitarised Zone, blissfully unaware that it crosses boundaries between North and South. Even the villains seem to be less motivated by their Communist ideology and more by their own extreme brand of Korean nationalism and eager to achieve unification. Kang Je-gyu with Shiri, like so many of his countrymen, tried to come to terms with 20th Century at its end. That end was new and glorious beginning for South Korean cinema that would later begin to win prestigious awards . At least two of the cast members would become renowned international stars – Yunjin Kim due to her later appearance in Lost, while Choi Min-sik would become icon because of his work in Oldboy. In 2009 Shiri was remade as television series Iris.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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