Sangnoksu

Shin Sang-ok referred to SANGNOKSU as one of the favourite films he made. Working in the classic era of Korean cinema, he was famous for his melodramas as well as for historical epics. Yet despite (or perhaps because of) his reputation, Shin was mysteriously kidnapped by North Korea in 1978 together with his muse and (ex-) partner Choi Eun-hee in order to make films for cinephile dictator Kim Jong-il, a fan of his work, famously escaping to the West while in Vienna in 1986. Choi stars in this melodrama, which apparently moved Park Chung-hee, who became South Korea’s president after a military coup in 1961, to tears; the idea that two opposing regimes could view the same film favourably only adds to its appeal. Based on a famous ‘rural enlightenment’ novel from the 1930s, SANGNOKSU is a tale of two Korean teachers who admire each other’s fierce idealistic convictions and inevitably fall in love. They are kept apart by both their duties (helping the impoverished countryside develop, teaching the locals the Korean Hangul alphabet) and the oppressive Japanese colonialist authorities. Shot in crisp black and white, the film combines neorealist elements with flashes of socialist realism—propagating above all a sense of pride in being Korean. (Gerwin Tamsma) 

Shin Sang-ok: A FLOWER IN HELL (1958), TO THE LAST DAY (1960), PRINCE YEONSAN (1961), HOUSEGUEST AND MY MOTHER (1961), THE MEMORIAL GATE FOR VIRTUOUS WOMEN (1962), RICE (1963), RED SCARF (1964), PHANTOM QUEEN (1967), PRINCE DAEWON (1968), GHOSTS OF CHOSUN (1970), A WOMAN WITH HALF SOUL (1973), THE THREE-DAY REIGN (1973), AT 13 YEARS OLD (1974), AN EMISSARY OF NO RETURN (1984), RUNAWAY (1984), LOVE, LOVE, MY LOVE (1985), SALT (1985), THE TALE OF SHIM CHONG (1985), PULGASARI (1985), BREAKWATER (1985), MAYUMI (1990), VANISHED (1994), 3 NINJAS KNUCKLE UP (1995)