Eunmyeongui son (1954)

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1. 

   Flam cobra

   History context :
   The film takes place in 1954, one year after the armistice between the two Koreas. Despite this treaty, the two Koreas were still at war and were spying on each other. Few films from the post-war era have been found.
   
   The detail :
   

   In this film, North Korean spies use musical sheets to encode their messages. It is known that during the Second World War, the singer Josephine Baker passed messages to the French resistance by writing in invisible ink on her scores. However, in the hand of fate, musical sheets itself is a coded message. Music professor David Loberg of Western Michigan University explains that messages using codes like these would go undetected to an untrained eye and ear. However Since their encryption system is not musical, a sequence of notes with a message hidden inside would look suspicious to a trained eye because it contains musical nonsense.

   
   
   the plot
   

   Margaret is a North Korean spy. She falls in love with a man accused of theft and decides to help him financially. As they begin a relationship together, Margaret finds a military ID card in his wallet making him a spy hunter. Torn between her patriotic duty and her love for him, she ends up handing him over to her boss but refuses to carry out his orders when he asks to kill the spy hunter.

   
   
   the shots
   The atmosphere of the film is heavy.First of all because the only faces visible on the screen are those of the two protagonists: Margaret and the spy hunter. The other characters being filmed from behind or their faces being out of focus.
   Then the action takes place mostly in her flat, a small space where the scenes are often interspersed with shots of a man walking a hundred paces near Margaret's house.
   Finally, the camera repeatedly shows close-ups of the door locks or of margaret making sure that the door is locked.
   
   We also notice that the film is in black and white and that the soundtrack was recorded after the shooting. The use of these techniques is not due to an artistic choice and shows how little budget the South Korean cinema had at the time since colour and live sound recording already existed.
   
   the conclusion
   

   The director being anti-communist, the end of the film shows us how impossible it is for Margaret to obtain redemption since she chose the wrong ideology. However, the dialogue between Margaret and the spy hunter before she dies shows us that their real enemy is neither north nor south but the 38th Parallel.

   3 years 1 month ago
2. 

   theBlackLodge

   http://youtu.be/OANGhypaYCg 11 years 11 months ago
3. 

   elcid

   Erotic man phantasies in service of political ideals. 1 year 11 months ago

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