South Korea, 2020. Korean gangster drama concerning child trafficking. Starring Jung-min Hwang, Jung-jae Lee, Jeong Min Park. Directed by Won-Chan Hong. 108 minutes. Rated MA (Strong violence).
‘Deliver us from evil’ has been used many times as a film title, more recently in connection with documentaries and fiction about the sexual abuse of minors. There is abuse of minors in this film, but the particular focus is on the trafficking of children, for sexual purposes, but, more sadistically, for organ donation.
This is a Korean action film. The narrative is interspersed with, sometimes quite graphic, violence. [It begins as means to go on with opening scenes of a paid assassin eliminating a gangster.] Indeed, one of the problems for the movie is that it is difficult to identify with the story and characters because none of them are admirable – though one becomes more and more sympathetic.
However, as said, this is a film about child trafficking. While the opening sequences are in Korea, set in a world of gangsters, elimination, revenge, most of the action takes place in Thailand. We are introduced to a mother and daughter from an affluent suburb, and then the daughter is abducted from school. The girl disappears, hidden with an alarming number of small children who have been trafficked in response to requests for organs from wealthy people who are not fussy where their life-saving organs come from, even if surgery kills the trafficked children.
Quickly, we discover the initial assassin was part of a crack team of assassins, but when the team was disbanded the members were left adrift – some becoming assassin for hire. The assassin discovers the abducted girl was his daughter and he sets off to find her.
But, of course, there is more. A suave-looking assassin (nicknamed The Butcher) is the brother of the initial assassinated gangster. This brother is bent on relentless revenge, and has quite a thug entourage to assist him in his quest. Which means the movie becomes a double pursuit – the Butcher in pursuit of the retired assassin who is searching for his daughter.
What makes the story somewhat different is the introduction of a Korean transgender singer from a Thai club. The singer becomes a guide to and interpreter for the assassin looking for his daughter to earn money for final surgery. The singer’s mannerisms and posturing are distractions from the violent pursuits, and become essential to the completion of the mission.
In the end, the evil that we must the must be delivered from is a contemporary scourge, the trafficking of children.
Rialto films
Released 10 June
Peter Malone MSC is an associate Jesuit Media