A summer action film done Korean style. What that means is that it is different, yet better than a large part of the fare we have become used to from Hollywood. Not being harsh, just the truth.
There is a certain style to the films and filmmaking of South Korea which I am just drawn to. They make even the most average of stories interesting as they find a different way to tell them. Not that this based on real events film is trite as real-life people and actual lives were involved, but we have all seen this type of thing before. A life and death situation meaning mortal enemies have to work together. However, here there is a fresh or unique perspective given to the story.
Directors of action films over the past couple of decades or so seem to make the same mistake over and over. They rely too much on special effects or the technology available to them and forget completely about the human element to their story. Yes, seeing gunfights, explosions and daring escapes is thrilling but that wears off if we do not care about the humans involved. Director Seung-wan Ryu has not forgotten this. Even in the action heavy sequences we care. That comes about because everything happens from a less mechanical and more human point of view. We follow along with these untrained in combat folks as they run for their lives and try to keep their families safe. Heroism and courage are on display many times. Because we care tension creeps into our watching of Escape from Mogadishu. We want them to get out alive and so are invested in all that goes on.
Though this is definitely about people fleeing conflict. Attempting to get out alive. There is also a touch of a political slant here in the way the divide between North and South Korea has separated a people who were once united. Kind of like what happened in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Politics got in the way for no good reason.
Set in war-torn Somalia in 1991, this film is based on a true story. Many of the events here actually have happened and have been dramatically reconstructed for director Seung-wan Ryu’s telling of the story. At the time dictator Mohamed Sian Barre was leading the country. As often is the case when you have a country being led by a dictator, conflict broke out between rebel forces and government ones.
During this explosion of violence, rival North and South Korean diplomats find themselves embroiled in another type of conflict. They become trapped in the country’s capital city of Mogadishu. Discovering that they have no exit route as the battles are going on continuously and surround them completely, the diplomats and their families are left to their own devices as their own governments have abandoned them. To make the situation even more perilous (like they needed something else!), they find they have no means of communication with the outside world.
Desperate times call for desperate measures as the diplomats from North and South Korea must band together, find some common ground, if they have any hope of getting out alive.
Special Features:
-Production Documentaries
-Making Of
-Trailers
