Samsiki Samchon

Corruption: Change from pure or correct original use to one that is erroneous or debased. Decay, decomposition, dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power.

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it," ~ Mark Twain. Even if leaders want the right things, too often they do the wrong things to get them.

US is a historical political fiction thriller based on true events. Three characters are based on actual historical figures while everyone else seems to be an amalgam of other players that created the political debacle of 1959-60 in SK, Uncle Sam being the most amalgamous. Communism was spreading, the 🌍 was in chaos. World War II had rewritten the maps. N & S Korea were at odds. 🇰🇷 was closely monitored by an on-site 🇺🇸military. This is one of director/writer Shin Youn-Shick's higher rated offerings. "I think 🇰🇷 is the only country that asks if one has eaten as a greeting. (US) portrays the difficult times right after the Korean War, when it was truly challenging to have even one meal a day," Shin said. Yet it was politics as usual at the top. These back-room ghouls think nothing of the suffering masses.

Not interested? I gravitate to the imaginative side of 📽&📚 myself - Sci-fi/fantasy/romance. One could tag me a reluctant viewer. Around ep5 it became clear that this is an excellent drama. It starts like a tank. It grinds slowly but really cranks up towards the end. The acting & directing are sublime. What's most important is that it's a peek under the hood of politics, another reminder that politics is overrun by hoods. "This is what it means to be in politics," muses Joo In-tae. His daughter had just asked him how he could work w/ a guy who had tortured him during the 🇯🇵 occupation. Many well meaning people do jump into the "public service" foray w/ the intent to 'do-good', but they slowly get absorbed by a system that pumps out 'doo-doo'. Politics is one big manure spreader. As KS says, it's "Hypocrisy disguised as a dream."

1960. The March15 Election Fraud is abt the rigged re-election of Syngman Rhee, in power since post WWII. That led to The April Revolution: Protests & demonstrations demanding reform led to the removal of Rhee. US opens in 1960, but the cars look older, indicating that money is scarce & they're getting by on older tech. On a dark, wet night authorities are dragging away a man who is screaming that it's Samsik's fault. What is a Samsik? Well, he is a dude who made sure everyone in his circle had three meals a day. Even during the war. "Sam" means three. "Sik" means food. "Chingoo Chincha." A true friend.

US is a primer on politics & the slippery slope. The good they sincerely want to do is the 🥕 ~ Getting reelected is the 🏏. It helps me understand & despise politics all the more. The cliche, "Power corrupts," et al, still rings true. We haven't outgrown that problem. Voters & the GP seem to have the attention span of a fruit fly & the memory of an ostrich. We neither know nor understand our history which dooms us to suffer corrupt leadership. It just isn't wise to put too much trust or hope in political leaders.

After we hear what a nurturing guy US Is, we revert to 1959. There's protesters in Seoul. I've not seen one political Kdrama where that isn't going on. It appears to be a nat'l pastime. US goes back & forth between that point & MPs questioning suspects in 1960. Questions? In '59 these guys staged a coup.

Samsik is more mobster than businessman. He's slowly built up enough to buy into a chaebol - he's about to become a business baron. "Do you know what 🍕 is?" He's in a great mood & jawwing to someone at the meal before his induction ceremony. "You probably don't even know what cheese is." He tries to explain 🍕 to a 1959 Korean. It might as well be explaining the 5th dimension. Try explaining soy sauce to someone who has never had Asian cuisine.

Next, he's at a political rally to raise trouble, & the meeting does break up in mayhem, but then KS takes the podium. In effect, he says ~ I just got back from 🇺🇸. Every building shines. No one is going hungry. They don't even eat all their food. I lived above a pizza shop. Do any of you know what 🍕 is? ~ He goes on to talk of a vision where Koreans aren't starving but, rather, where Korea is the center for commerce in the 🌎. Uncle Sam is listening. Attentively. The scene is quite powerful.

Park Doo Chil (Snowpiercer) plays ML US w/ his coat swinging; part of Sam's signature swagger. It's been 35 yrs since he did 📺. Coming into US, I could only see him as he was in Parasite-9, w/ the greasy face & that smell. (I KNOW one can't smell anything through the 📺. That is partly why Parasite is so brilliant!) He made an impression. He's excellent in Taxi Driver-8.4 as well, which is also half-fictionalized events based in a true setting and, historically, serves as a bookend to US. In US, PDC is indefatigable. His character is so alive, so energetic, so garrulous, so thoroughly compelling that, for someone w/ chronic fatigue, it's actually exhausting. He understands that when your stomach is full your mind tends to open. He won people over by feeding them. We're not that much different from stray cats & dogs in that way. He is portrayed as a split personality. Like the best criminals, he's a savant of human psychology. He grew up poor. Therefore he says things like: "Do you like people that are admired? They're the worst." Yet he fully embraces the system. He is fundamentally decent to those around him & he's generally loyal, but he has no moral backbone whatsoever. US is a man that has gotten used to exploiting opportunities; it's such a habit that he never questions it. He operates outside of the law entirely. He opens up in ep2: 'I love red bean buns. I could never afford them, but I wanted them so badly I killed a man one day.'

Byun Yo Han, who is positively luminescent in Mr. Sunshine-9 & Misaeng-9.1, plays Kim San/KS, a man who has the best of intentions but gets marinated & stuck to the bottom by the political sauce. Mr. Byun shows that he can play a serious role. Other actors can as well, but what other actors can't do is capture the magic of the other characters BYH has portrayed. He conveys a nearly tangible sense of delight. That is rare magic, indeed. KS has a soft spot for people that recognize his worth. That only means that he's too self-focused, & his pride is too important to him. It's something that will trip us up. He is so determined to pass his economic reform pkg, (it would be wonderful for Kcountry) that he's willing to do anything. ANYTHING. He thinks he can wash away the stink later.

KS is courted more than a duke's only daughter. How does Samsik seduce him? With intoxicating statements like this: "Nobody gets to fulfill more than 25% of their desires. Nobody gets 80 or 90% so what do you do? You increase your desires by 40-50-60%. Have ambition." When KS finally succumbs, he has this conversation w/ the party chief: "I don't need nice guys. We are waging a war here. I won't tolerate any tears." "I've already shed all my tears. I'm done w/ that." By that time he had abandoned his fiance, ignored dozens of illegalities, & had started sewing the seeds of revolution. Samsik stays in the shadows. One might almost think he invented subversive triangulation, but apparently politics is the same at all times & in all places. It's a filthy business in which those in power take advantage of those in need. Catch rivals committing crimes? It's merely an invitation to control them. Turning them in is the last thing that US would do. Even so, Samsik & KS form an unbreakable bond. They have good goals that they intend to implement by any means possible. Following proper channels never even occurs to Samsik, & he manages to slowly & steadily bend KS to his will.

It's always the things that we think we know ~ our faulty presuppositions ~ that bring us down. "There was an explosion of people that spilled onto the streets instantly. Ultimately, none of the promises or plans we made mattered at all... No one could have predicted the way the winds would take us, or or how the waves would crash." The director builds up tension steadily. It explodes into protests. There's a spectacular moving aerial shot of marchers that pans several blocks. He intersperses the filming w/ genuine newsreels from the time. It's quite emotional. Another nice touch is how KS is gifted a light grey suit that stands out amongst the unified dark suit coalition. I think it represents how his white intentions became muddied & gray through his interactions w/ US. In the last ep KS wears a black suit & glasses of 2 shades of grey.

US can sense things are going sideways in the last ep. He looks at the hotel lobby. People are chit-chatting, drinking & going on w/ their evening as if nothing's happening. They're completely unaware of the day, of the country, & of the rotation & revolution of the 🌎. Isn't that always the case? The soldiers enter. It's a profound scene.

US, himself, is often profound. We'll let him close this out: "...Can you feel it right now? The rotation & revolution? That's precisely the kind of man I am. The Earth's rotation & revolution..." (looks like the earth still goes around without him). "Sometimes I feel... I feel tossed aside in the world, completely abandoned. I'm flooded w/ loneliness. It's in those times that I find what I fear most of all... is when that loneliness... becomes familiar.

QUOTES📢

People think they're different from each other. Eventually, they figure out they're all the same. When they figure it out, it's too late.

An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought. ~Simon Cameron 19th century financier & politician

〰🖍 IMHO

📣8.3📝8.5🎭8.5💓3🦋4🎨8🎵7.5🔚9 ▪ 🌞4.5⚡5.5😅2😭6😱3😯3.5🤢3🤔7💤0 age14+