Red Scarf
Director: Shin Sang-ok
Year: 1964
Rating: 6.0
Country: Korea
"The red scarf is the
man of the sky
The man of the sky
is the red scarf
Wearing the red scarf
around the neck
I fly with the clouds"
This is sort of the Top Gun of Korea. If
you want a big fat weepy slice of patriotism, pride and propaganda, this
is the film for you. Made in 1964 but set towards the end of the Korean War,
it is about a new group of pilots that have just passed flight school and
attained the Red Scarf that they all wear. The film goes back and forth between
sorties in their Saber jets and melodrama on the ground. Between bombing
the North Koreans and love and drinking when their mission was over for that
day. The next day would bring a new mission. The sort of film in which all
the men have deep masculine voices that must start from their testicles.
Even though made in 1964 after the combat had stopped, South Korea has always
been on a war footing and so these propaganda films - of which there were
many I would guess - still must have felt relevant. And maybe still do.
It is directed by Shin Sang-ok, one of
the more respected directors at the time and stars his wife, Choi Eun-hie,
a huge star. Both of them were later kidnapped by North Korea - not because
he kills hundreds of North Koreans in this film - but because Kim Jong-Il
wanted them to make movies for the North. That is how respected they were.
It is like if Putin kidnapped Spielberg to make a movie about the Defense
of Russia from the Ukrainians. Shin clearly has the approval and assistance
of the Air Force because there is stunning aerial photography of the jets
flying through the clouds and blowing the hell out of tanks and artillery.
I have to admit seeing the North Koreans getting shot up was not a bad feeling.
We have plenty of films of the American
effort in that war; interesting to see it from the Korean side. War propaganda
films from everywhere tend to be the same - the heroism, the comradery, the
romance and heartbreak on the ground, the rampant patriotism, the sacrifice
and the one mission that has to be carried out. In this case a bridge that
the Americans have not been able to blow up. "The idiots. We can do it" says
one squadron leader. Hey, wait a second - we lost a lot of good men fighting
in Korea.
All of that plays out here - Ji-seon (Choi
Eun-hie) is the woman who marries one of the pilots who gets shot down and
then begins working in a hostess bar. Major Na (Shin Yeong-gyun) was the
dead pilot's best friend and looks after her and tells her to stop working
in a bar like this, with a big face slap for emphasis. He introduces her
to another pilot (Choi Mu-ryong) and they fall in love. But that damn bridge
has to be taken out. This is up on YouTube in the Korean Film Archive section.
I wish Hong Kong would do the same. In beautiful color and a fine print.
