[Winner of the Gold Prize in the 10th “I am a Producer” Contest in 2018] Partisan: In the Jirisan

2019-01-01 ~ 2019-02-28
 [Winner of the Gold Prize in the 10th “I am a Producer” Contest  in 2018] Partisan: In the Jirisan
Partisan is originally a French word referring to a party member or comrade, which was adopted by the Russian language to become the word Партизан, whose pronunciation was adopted in turn by Koreans, who utilized the term in a different manner that reflects the history of the people: In South Korea, partisans commonly refer to members of North Korean People’s Guerilla Fighters. It is difficult to comprehensively discuss the history of partisans, but to summarize they are guerrilla fighters sympathetic to the South Korean Workers’ Party, who were chased into the mountains of the Taebaeksanmaek Mountain Range after the Korean War ended in the armistice. Most of these communist fighters were captured or killed by the South Korean police and armed forces. Partisans are the cause of one of the largest pains in the Korean history, but rarely depicted by the cinematic art form. In response, this special feature was planned to face the tragedies of modern and contemporary Korean history through the lens of partisans. 

This special feature introduces five films archived by the KMDb VOD service. In fact, these are practically the only cinematic works from South Korea that deal with the topic of partisans. As such, it is fortunate that KMDb VOD is in possession of all of the above films that will be discussed in this article. The films are presented not in chronological or alphabetic order, but in internal progression of events in and among them. 

To elaborate, the below films begin their journey with PIAGOL, the original partisan movie, then move onto NORTH KOREAN PARTISAN IN SOUTH KOREA and THE TAE-BAEKS, which focus on recreating the history on the silver screen, culminating in THE LAST WITNESS and JAGKO, which deal with the times after the era of partisans. NORTH KOREAN PARTISAN IN SOUTH KOREA and THE TAE-BAEKS can be presented in alternating orders, which is the same for THE LAST WITNESS and JAGKO as well. The intent of this producer was to have the viewers follow the films in the order of PIAGOL-(NORTH KOREAN PARTISAN IN SOUTH KOREA, THE TAE-BAEKS)-(THE LAST WITNESS, JAGKO), and have them develop a chronology of history of partisans, who were a relative mystery to South Koreans (the order of the works in the parentheses can be changed, but the order of the groups demarcated by parentheses should not be changed).

Heo Jin-Hyeok, a Winner of the Gold Prize

Films
  • 01. Piagol (Pi-agol) Lee Kang-cheon, 1955
    No one would object to selecting PIAGOL as the first film of the series. This film, all of whose characters are partisan fighters, was censored by the government when it was released because it depicted the communist fighters as humans. The film came out in the 1950s, when there were remnant factions of partisans still active deep in the mountains of South Korea. This work set a sort of guidelines for describing the human side of the partisans.
  • 02. North Korean Partisan in South Korea (Nambugun) Chung Ji-young, 1990
    Both NORTH KOREAN PARTISAN IN SOUTH KOREA and THE TAE-BAKES were produced in the 1990s. The former is the first film since PIAGOL to recreate the activities of partisans in a detailed manner and the latter delivers the mood of a liberation period in the cinematic art form, although the film is slightly different from the original novel on which it is based. These works make the viewers think about why the previously tabooed partisans were brought back in the 1990s, especially describing the fighters from their own perspective.
  • 03. The Tae Baek Mountains (Taebaegsanmaeg(Taebaeksanmaek)) Im Kwon-taek, 1994
    Both NORTH KOREAN PARTISAN IN SOUTH KOREA and THE TAE-BAKES were produced in the 1990s. The former is the first film since PIAGOL to recreate the activities of partisans in a detailed manner and the latter delivers the mood of a liberation period in the cinematic art form, although the film is slightly different from the original novel on which it is based. These works make the viewers think about why the previously tabooed partisans were brought back in the 1990s, especially describing the fighters from their own perspective.
  • 04. The Last Witness (Choehu-ui jeung-in) Lee Doo-yong, 1980
    While the above three films deal with partisans as history, THE LAST WITNESS and JAGKO tell the stories that came after the era of the partisans. The tragedies of modern and contemporary Korean history did not end when the historical events expired; in these films, their memories continue following the characters to torment them. A detective is faced with the abyss of the modern Korean history during the course of an investigation, and when he becomes an old man, he meets Jagko, who he set out to catch for the entirety of his career, only to learn that Jagko was also the victim of a gigantic machine of violence created by the history. It is meaningful that these “after-stories” about partisans were released in the same year.
  • 05. Jagko (Jjagko) Im Kwon-taek, 1980
    While the above three films deal with partisans as history, THE LAST WITNESS and JAGKO tell the stories that came after the era of the partisans. The tragedies of modern and contemporary Korean history did not end when the historical events expired; in these films, their memories continue following the characters to torment them. A detective is faced with the abyss of the modern Korean history during the course of an investigation, and when he becomes an old man, he meets Jagko, who he set out to catch for the entirety of his career, only to learn that Jagko was also the victim of a gigantic machine of violence created by the history. It is meaningful that these “after-stories” about partisans were released in the same year.

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