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Something that comes up almost as an aside in this handsomely mounted period piece, co-written and produced by Korean auteur Park Chan-wook, is the astonishing detail that, in the 16th century, invading Japanese soldiers would saw off their victims’ noses as trophies of war. So prolific were these ad hoc amputations that there’s a shrine of sorts in Japan — the Mimizuka monument in Kyoto, Tokyo — that holds the noses of nearly 40,000 Koreans killed during that time, not to mention some 30,000 similar “souvenirs” from China.
But, surprisingly, Kim Sang-man’s drama doesn’t play that card. This isn’t a story of Korea falling victim to outside aggressors, although that is a significant part of the drama. Instead, it’s a film about the enemy within, something the Koreans would know quite a lot about — most recently with corrupt president Park Geun-hye, whose secret 60-page document blacklisting Park and other significant artists was made public after her impeachment in 2016. One could also see its moral — live and let live — as a reaction to the infamously judgmental nature of Korean society, something that has claimed the lives of many public figures lately.
It begins with an ending, and the dissolution of a project called Great Unity. Founded by politician Jeong Yeo-rip, it was an idyllic co-operative where “noblemen and slaves shared food and drink and practiced martial arts together”. Naturally this did not sit well with the reigning monarch, King Seonjo (Cha Seung-won), who sent his men to kill the lot of them. To be honest, this doesn’t have a hell of a lot to do with what happens next, but it does set the scene, establishing the Joseon dynasty as a time of serious inequality.
The story begins in the aftermath of this; in a marketplace festooned with the severed heads of these “traitors”, a runaway slave is captured and presented to the authorities. Cheon-yeong (Gang Don-won) was not born into slavery but, thanks to the bureaucracy of the day, was taken as chattel as a child, after his mother was effectively sold to pay a family debt. Working for the Deputy Minister of Defence in his mansion, Cheon-yeong’s “job” is literally to be a whipping boy for the master’s son, Jong Ryeo (Park Jeong-min). Unexpectedly, and against the master’s express wishes, the two boys become friends (“What compelled you to treat a slave like an equal?” barks the rich boy’s father).
Similarities to Mark Twain’s novel The Prince and the Pauper arise when, having trained Jong Ryeo as gifted but not exactly brilliant swordsman, Cheon-yeong takes his place for a prestigious military exam. Cheon-yeong expects his freedom in return, but Jong Ryeo’s father reneges on the deal. In fact, the old man has cultivated such ill-will among his servants that they rise up against him, burning his mansion to the ground. Jong Ryeo, understandably, believes Cheon-yeong to be responsible, not least because the rebel slave has already threatened to kill his master’s entire family and “throw every one of you into a raging fire”. But more pressing matters than revenge hove into view when the Japanese invade, chopping off body parts in a bloody incursion that will last seven years.
Frequently erupting into scenes of guts and gore that bring to mind the inventively violent samurai films of Takashi Miike, Uprising over-complicates a relatively simple plot by suddenly pivoting to King Seonjo, another nobleman who despises the proletariat and happily sells them out at the earliest opportunity by joining forces with the enemy when public opposition threatens to get out of hand. His accomplice Genshin (Jung Sung-il), the third wheel in this story, is a charismatic and suitably slippery villain, but director Kim Sang-man’s attempts to channel the spirit of Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly for a triple-threat finale don’t quite pay off in terms of the story Uprising has been telling.
Nevertheless, it’s a fitfully entertaining romp, like a vacuum-sealed Shōgun packed into just over two hours. But though the action scenes are artfully and expertly crafted, it’s the film’s thoughtful morality that lingers after the slightly underwhelming conclusion. For all the faith they put in their rebel hero, Kim and Park see strength in numbers, and it’s clear they find Jeong Yeo-rip’s vision of a fair and equal society just as appealing now as it must have been back then.
Title: Uprising
Distributor: Netflix
Director: Kim Sang-man
Screenwriters: Park Chan-wook, Shin Cheol
Cast: Gang Don-won, Jung Sung-il, Park Jeong-min, Cha Seung-won
Running time: 2 hr 7 mins
