In 1909, several years after Korea is forced into becoming a Japanese colony, freedom fighters plot the daring assassination of Japan's prime minister during their quest for independence.
Acting
Hyun Bin's haunted eyes carry whole scenes.
Cinematography
Harbin as frozen purgatory—beautiful and suffocating.
Direction
Woo Min-ho makes history feel dangerously immediate.
Director
Woo Min-ho
Hyun Bin
Ahn Jung-geun
Park Jeong-min
Woo Duk-soon
Jo Woo-jin
Kim Sang-hyun
Jeon Yeo-been
Ms. Gong
Lee Dong-wook
Lee Chang-sup
Park Hoon
Mori Tatsuo
You Chea-myung
Choi Jae-hyung
Lily Franky
Itō Hirobumi
Jung Woo-sung
Park Jum-chool
Kim Zio
Ohtani
Lee Tae-hyeong
Cho Do-sun
Ahn Se-ho
Lee Kang
Yun Yeo-won
Shin Jae-shik
Yoon Sang-ho
Kawakami Toshihiko
Pak Ton-ha
Yamada
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ahn Jung-geun remains controversial: celebrated as hero in Korea, terrorist in Japan. The film deliberately ignores Japanese perspective entirely.
Shot in Latvia standing in for 1909 Harbin—actual location is now modern Chinese city with little Korean independence memorialization.
KR
