Cinema from the other side

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Introduced by Charles Armstrong (Columbia University), Hong Kil Dong (1986), the inaugural film of a special presentation in the Classic Movie Night series, "Films from the North", was screened on Monday at The Korea Society. Directed by Kim Kil-in, starring Ri Yong-ho, Ri Gwon and Ri Ri-youn, this North Korean cinematic work mixes Hong Kong-style kung fu with a socialist ethos.

The story is is based on, one of the first ever to be written in vernacular Korean, was pencilled by Ho Gyun, a famous radical intellectual, in the early 17th century.

 

 

 

 

The eponymous protagonist, Hong Kil Dong, is the illegitimate son of a nobleman and a concubine., forever barred from privilege Saved from death in his childhood by a monk who also happens to be a martial arts master, he learns fighting skills with which he rises to be a warrior in the king’s army. The legendary hero was also celebrated in South Korea's first feature animation film.

The North Korean adaptation of the tale, deservedly the best-known cinematic work of the Communist state, is a fantasy that is strongly reminiscent of the Hong Kong wuxia film industry of the 1960s. It is reminiscent of films like The Jade Bow; the use of the zoom lens recalls mainstream Hong Kong pictures of the early to mid-1970s. Notably, the mountain backgroun is entirely shot as exteriors, not as studio interiors, making full use of North Korea's one abundance-spectacular scenery.

Mixing the Robin Hood-esque Hong Kil Dong took the Bulgarian box office (!) by storm in the late 1980s.

-wanders Korea helping farmers fend off exploitation by the landed class. But when Korea is invaded by Japanese ninja, he must unite with his perennial enemies to defend the fatherland.

The story, a feudal fantasy also adapted as South Korea's first feature animated film, echoes in look and overall technique Hong Kong martial arts movies of the 1960s, such as The Jade Bow; the use of the zoom lens recalls mainstream Hong Kong pictures of the early to mid-1970s. Notably, the mountain seen are all shot as exteriors, not as studio interiors, making full use of North Korea's one abundance-spectacular scenery. (Courtesy of Far East Film Festival) 

For further reading, here's an essay by Timothy Savage, on "The People's Cinema" .