Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2017 South Korean period action film called,
The Battleship Island. Spoiler’s ahead. Sit back, relax and enjoy the video.
The movie begins in Hashima Island also known as Battleship Island which is off
the coast of Japan and the site of a massive coal mine.
It is a very busy day at the site of the coal mine. Korean workers of all ages are
being forced to work hard. A small young boy is violently forced to go inside a narrow space to
dig coal. While digging, the gas accidentally leaks so he hurriedly runs to ask for help but
he is beaten by another man and forces him to go inside the hole once again. Another young boy is
about to help him, but a man stops him because it is dangerous to interfere. Suddenly, there is a
movement in the ocean that causes an avalanche of rocks that buries the young boy inside the hole.
The family and friends of the young boy mourn. Because of the incident,
the leader of the Koreans, Mr. Yoon helps the three young boys to escape the island
and go back to Korea. Upon their escape, they are caught and killed by the Japanese.
The Japanese are happy because they will receive huge pay for killing three young fugitives.
At Nineteen Peninsula Hotel in Myeong Dong, a woman runs towards the stage
and asks Lee Kang-Ok, the band master, to play jazz music.
At first, Lee refuses because of the “Jazz Prohibition Order” but the woman
convinces him that no one will arrest him for the visitors at the party are high ranking officials.
Lee agrees because of the high pay and then kisses the hand of the woman that makes his daughter,
Lee So-hee, irritated. Despite the disappointment, So-hee still performs gracefully together with his
father and his bandmates. The people are very delighted upon watching.
A police officer comes to see Lee to arrest him for having an affair with the wife of a
high ranked secretary. Lee’s friend hurriedly warns him, but doesn’t understand it at first,
so he continues his performance. Finally, he sees the wife of the high ranked secretary
being dragged in the front door, so he and his daughter hurriedly escape in the hotel.
Lee meets the police officer and explains that there is nothing going on with him
and the high ranked secretary’s wife. The police officer named
Sukiyama offers Lee and his bandmates a job in Japan in exchange for money.
Lee is so convinced because it is his dream to work in that country because of high pay.
Lee together with his daughter and bandmates ride a ship to Shimonoseki thinking of a
bright future ahead of them in Japan. Inside the ship are Koreans from all walks of life.
The people think that they will go to Japan to work in a high paying company,
so they are wondering why there are also children on the ship.
Lee tells his bandmates that when they get off the ship, their destination is
different from the others, so they just need to be patient. Suddenly, a commotion happens.
A gangster named Choi Chil-Sung starts a fight with another gangster. Japanese men bombard them
with water and warn them that they will be treated as rebels and shoot them if they will not stop.
Choi bravely stands up and looks for someone who can speak Japanese. A woman named Mal-Nyeon warns
him to be quiet or else the Japanese will not use water but bullets. Choi grabs Mal-Nyeon’s hair in
retaliation, she grabs the sensitive part of his body, that leaves him with no choice but to ask
his gang members to just sit down. The commotion stops when a Japanese person fires a gun.
The ship arrives in Shimonoseki Harbor in Japan. Lee asks a Japanese officer about
the whereabouts of Mr. Shimura and shows a recommendation letter from Seoul from
prosecutor Sukiyama but the officer says that there are a lot of Shimura’s there.
The letter falls and Lee is surprised to see that there are other letters like the one that he has.
Lee and his bandmates are forced to ride the train that leads them to another ship.
The Koreans are now in the Hashima Coal Mine ship. The Japanese military go to the ship
and separate the Korean men and women. Japanese officers force them to surrender their valuable
belongings and hit them whenever they decline. Lee nervously gives his suitcase to the officer.
He is afraid that they will find out the money that he hides in it. Suddenly, he
hears someone who speaks Korean among the Japanese officers, he is the Korean Big Boss. Lee grabs the
recommendation letter and shows it to him. He tells him that there must be a misunderstanding
because he and his bandmates go there as musicians then they perform in front of everyone.
Inside the building, the Korean women are forced to take off their clothes
and a doctor examines their body to check if they have disease.
The doctor also reminds them to always keep themselves clean.
Going back to Lee and his bandmate’s performance, the Japanese are delighted to hear it. Lee gives
his Rolex watch to the Korean Big Boss in exchange for his daughter. Suddenly, a Japanese officer
approaches him and asks them to perform a Japanese song. After the performance, the manager of the
Hashima Mine Area goes out to greet the Koreans and inform them of the importance of coal in their
country. The Koreans are forced to take off their clothes and cut their hair while the Japanese
examine them. Lee sees children who practice how to fight that reminds him of his daughter, So Hee.
The Korean women go to their dorm in the Red-Light District. The Japanese women are angry upon seeing
them. The Korean women are afraid upon hearing the story that the stomachs of the pregnant
women were cut by the soldiers and were forced to serve the Japanese repeatedly without rest.
The Japanese military escort the Koreans to their dorm and explain their salary and deductions.
Their rooms and food are very dirty and look disgusting.
They are very disappointed with the salary because there are a lot of deductions,
and it seems like they are working because of debts and not to earn.
After a hard day at work, Koreans take a bath together. Choi is very disappointed on how the
Korean Big Boss treats his fellow Koreans so he asks Lee to translate his message to
the Japanese military that he would like to challenge the current Korean Big Boss
and if he wins, he will replace him in his position. The Japanese military are very happy to
see the Koreans fighting against each other. Choi defeats the Korean Big Boss. Mr. Yoon stops them
and says that they are just pleasing the Japanese. Choi doesn’t care about what Mr.
Yoon says and continues to tell the Japanese that he is now the new Korean Big Boss.
The Japanese laugh at him and order him to go to the department of Labor Service.
After that, Lee and his bandmates happily sing to congratulate Choi.
On the other side of the island, the Korean women including Mal-Nyeon and So Hee are forced to join
the manager and Japanese officials while drinking. Suddenly, they play the music that So-Hee
originally sings. She asks Mal-Nyeon to inform the manager that she is the one who sings the song
and to prove it, she performs while bursting into tears. So-Hee tells them that she is a part of a
famous orchestral group in Korea, and she goes to the island with her father and his bandmates.
That night, the manager allows So-Hee to see his father.
In the base camp of Korean OSS in China, the Korean officials talk to Park Mu-young
who graduated with the highest score in the military and informs him that he is
chosen to go to the Battleship Island to rescue Mr. Yoon for they think that
he is the key to resolve all the internal conflicts in the war.
Park successfully enters the island and meets Mr. Yoon at the coal mine site. Unfortunately,
an accident happens in the site that causes an explosion.
To prevent further damage, the manager orders to explode the affected area
and bury all the Korean workers without knowing that Mr. Yoon is there so he hurriedly calls the
officials in the site to stop the bombing because he thinks that if Mr. Yoon dies,
the Koreans will rebel against them. The Koreans successfully escape death with the help of Park.
The Koreans are unhappy with the explosion for it left a lot of casualties,
but they are very happy upon seeing that Mr. Yoon is fine. He promises that he will
coordinate with the head of the Japanese and make sure that they will pay for the incident.
Park reveals his real identity to Mr. Yoon and his team and tells them that he is there
to rescue the old man. He informs them of the plan of using telegram to communicate
with the Korean OSS agents. There will be a ship coming to the island carrying
food and they will use it to escape. The team is suspicious of Park’s identity,
but he proves his good intentions by relaying the message of the General to Mr. Yoon.
To earn money, Lee asks his bandmates to draw nude pictures.
He builds good relationships with the guards because of his enticing words.
In the evening, the manager calls Lee and proposes
to give So-hee to the Head officer who lost a daughter during the air strike.
He also adds that it is the best option to help So-Hee escape the dangerous island. After hearing
this, Lee goes out and looks for his daughter. The two dance happily under the light post.
Park and some Korean Independent soldiers ask Lee to get the post office keys in exchange for money.
At first, he is hesitant but is convinced when Park says that
they need to use telegram to communicate with the Korean OSS agents in releasing Mr. Yoon.
Upon hearing that, he gives a condition that he will help them if Park promises
that he and his daughter will be released as well. With his skills and connections,
Lee successfully finds the key maker and asks him to duplicate the key to the post office.
That evening, Park successfully enters the post office and informs the Korean OSS the situation.
They ask how many will be rescued but instead of saying four including Lee and Soo-Hee,
he only answers two, just him and Mr. Yoon. Before he goes out of the post office,
he suddenly sees a safety box with the note, “Korean People Mutual Aid Benefit Association”.
The box has the evidence that Mr. Yoon gets huge amount of money from the Korean workers’ salary.
The next morning, they are surprised with the announcement that they are expecting
American bombing so they should not go out of their places. Park wakes Mr. Park up and
tells him that it is about time to escape. On their way out, Lee sees them and is very
disappointed because he thinks that they will leave without them, so he hurriedly gets So-hee.
Park brings Mr. Yoon to an abandoned room and tells him that he sees documents proving
he received blood money. Mr. Yoon denies the accusations, but Park is convinced that he is
in connivance with the Japanese. He realizes that the reason why the plans of the Koreans
to escape always failed is because Mr. Yoon tells it to the Japanese. Park points a gun at Mr. Yoon
but suddenly, Lee enters the room and believes Mr. Yoon’s accusations against Park that he is a spy.
One of the members of Mr. Yoon’s team arrives and gets So-Hee.
Park throws the evidence to him when suddenly, the place explodes because of the bomb from America.
Lee finds the evidence and hides with So-hee. The whole island is destroyed by the bombs. The
Koreans try to escape but the Japanese military close the front gate and leave the Koreans dying.
Park finds Mr. Yoon but he is shot by him. He also shoots the man who finds him after knowing that he
reads that book that proves his wrongdoings. After that, he goes out and plays innocent in front of
the Koreans and looks for Lee and So-Hee but doesn’t find them because they are hiding inside
an abandoned room. Luckily, Park survives, and Lee helps him recover from his wound.
Japanese people protest and want the Koreans to get out of their island. The Japanese officials
think of a plan to eliminate the remaining Koreans so the truth about what happened to
the island will be covered. The Korean Big Boss rapes and kills a Japanese young girl that make
the tension between Koreans and Japanese even worse. To hide what he did, he acts as witness
and points Choi as the suspect because of that, the Japanese military arrest and torture him.
Mr. Yoon meets the new manager and informs him of the plan to terminate
all the remaining Koreans so that no one remembers what happened on the island.
They don’t know that Park and So-Hee are listening to their conversation.
Mr. Yoon gathers all the Koreans and tells them that he already negotiated with the Japanese
and they agree to improve the quality of their lives and will even send the wounded back to
Korea which makes them very happy. After that, he tells them that they need to enter the mine
tomorrow for a ceremony of a new start. Park shouts and refuses, then informs the Koreans
that Mr. Yoon is a bad person, and the Japanese will kill all of them inside the mine tomorrow.
The people cannot believe what they hear so Lee shows up with documents that Mr. Yoon took their
salaries. A man with an eyeglass and So-Hee also testify that Mr. Yoon kills their member who found
out his connivance with the Japanese. Despite all the evidence, he keeps on denying the accusations.
While explaining, Park approaches Mr. Yoon and kills him.
Unfortunately, Koreans are still divided, there are still people who are against the plan
and would like to talk to the Japanese. Finally, a young boy expresses his willingness to escape
that convinces most of the Koreans to follow. The people who are against the plan are tied up.
Finally, they start the plan before the sun rises. They also get weapons and make bombs
to protect themselves. Unfortunately, the Japanese find out their escape,
so Choi and his team decide to fight for the success of the escape. The people are very scared
but find courage with each other. The Koreans and Japanese fight and many people are killed.
The manager shoots Lee and Park and captures So-Hee. When he is about to kill the young girl,
Park throws a stone on his head. Despite being scared, So-Hee throws the man-made bomb to the
manager which burns him alive. Park stands up and beheads the manager that stops the fight.
He shouts that the war is now over, and they will now go back to Korea.
Unfortunately, Lee dies because of blood loss and asks Park to take care of his daughter.
The movie ends in the scene where the Koreans are staring at the island that is covered with fire.
There is a note that the Battleship Island was registered in the UNESCO,
but the Japanese didn’t inform its history until Dec. 2017.