Assassination is a 2015 filmed by director Choi Dong-hoon, starring Jun Ji-hyun, Lee Jung-jae, and Ha Jung-woo. The movie takes place from 1911 to 1949, during and after Japanese occupation in Korea.
The movie is full of characters, elaborate plans, sublots, and historical figures. Despite the complexity of the movie, it comes down to one point: Korean Freedom Fighters’ unrelenting commitment even in the face of betrayal amongst its ranks.
The four historical figures play minor roles in this movie.
Lee Wan-yong was known as one of the eight traitors who betrayed Korea by signing the Japan-Korea Treaty and handed over Korea’s governance to Japan. Terauchi Masatake was a Governor General of Korea, a Japanese politician who ruled Korea under this treaty. These two were only in the brief Sontag Hotel scenes as Yem Sek-jin, a freedom fighter, tries to assassinate them.
Later, we see Kim Gu and Kim Bong-won, who were two well-known independent movement leaders. They meet with Yem Sek-jin to plan an assassination attempt. The importance of this scene is that although these men were on opposite sides politically, they came together to fight their common enemy. Their alliance was temporary as Kim Gu was on the south side, while Kim Bong-won was on the north side during the civil war from 1950 to 1953.
However, the movie isn’t about their story. Rather it is a story of so many who fought and lost their lives during four decades of Japanese rule and persecution. The movie gets complicated with backstories and numerous characters, but that may be the point.
As outsiders, we may see this movie as a fun action film. The fact that this is a war time movie about freedom fights should tell us that it’s more than just a mere action blockbuster.
Bulk of the movie takes place in 1933 as three resistance fighters try to carry out their mission: assassinate Kawaguchi Mamoru, man responsible for a massacre of Koreans and Kang In-guk, a Korean businessman who help fund the Japanese military. While this is a fictional event, it closely resembles the 1932 events where Yun Bong-gil assassinated a military leader in Shanghai and Lee Bong-chang tried to assassinate the Japanese emperor. The scene where the trio takes a photo with their pledge sheet mimics the photo taken of Yun Bong-gil prior to his mission.
The movie weaves in further complication as Yem Sek-jin becomes a spy for the Japanese after his arrest in 1911 and subsequent torture. Kang In-guk’s wife was also a resistance fighter who helped treat Yem Sek-jin after he was shot during his assassination attempt. Their twin daughter becomes a resistance fight and becomes the captain of the mission to kill her own father. A mysterious man and his companion are hired to hunt down people for money.
Yem Sek-jin represents so many Koreans who chose to side with Japan for their survival, greed, or something we may never understand. Through him, we see a person who is afraid of death and that fear causes him to take the side he believes in stronger. At the end of the movie, Ahn Ok-yun asks him why he betrayed them. He says that he didn’t know…he didn’t know that they would be liberated. This is what separates him from those that refused to give into the temptation. No one fights a war knowing when it will end.
Ahn Ok-yun represents the thousands of resistance fighters who lived and died for their cause. There were families that had members on opposite sides, Japan versus Korea. This movie heightens that family tension with secrets and hidden identity. The movie takes the step further by Kang In-guk’s cold-blooded murder of his own daughter and his attempt to kill Ok-yun when he discovers he killed the wrong twin. He justifies his actions until the end by claiming it was to save his family and the helpless Koreans. Ahn Ok-yun is only saved from killing her father by Hawaii Pistol, as he kills Kang In-guk instead.
Hawaii Pistol is a drifter. For most of the movie, we have the least amount of information on him until the end. He comments that there is a Patricide Club where the sons killed their fathers who betrayed their country. This is a fleeting comment, but we assume he is talking about the eight ministers who betrayed Korea by signing the Japan-Korea Treaty. These sons were all noble young men who killed or attempted to kill their fathers for betraying their country. We know that Buddy was from a noble family because we hear Buddy call Hawaii Pistol, dolyeonnim, meaning young master. In turn, Hawaii Pistol calls Buddy, young-gam, meaning elder. Buddy was likely his male servant. The reason Hawaii Pistol kills Kang In-guk is because he doesn’t want Ahn Ok-yun to live with the pain he lived with, killing his father and committing patricide. Whether one believe he or she is fighting a just cause, killing one’s parent leaves a scar that will never heal.
Characters like Sang-ok, the Big Gun, Duk-sam, Café owner, and her Japanese bartender represent numerous resistance fighters. Everyone had their own stories and motivations for why they fought. Just as Koreans sided with Japan, there were Japanese that sided with Korea and helped in its fight for independence. History often forgets their sacrifices, but surely Koreans will remember them. Even knowing that they will die, they continue their work because their story must be told.
The movie ends with Korea liberation in 1945 as room full of people chant that they can go home. Yem Sek-jin walks free after his war crime charges are dropped due to lack of evidence only to meet the people he betrayed. As Ahn Ok-yun watches Yem Sek-jin die from his gunshot wounds, she remembers Sang-ok, Duk-sam, Hawaii Pistol, Buddy, and others. They may not be alive to see Korea liberated, but she would never forget them.