★★★☆☆
South Korea’s entry for the best international feature Oscar is this lavish widescreen thriller that’s based on a real-life rescue mission during the early days of the Somali civil war. The staff from North and South Korean embassies, defying protocol and government policy, were forced to co-operate, unite and emotionally bond while attempting to escape the violence that consumed the capital city in 1991.
The director Ryu Seung-wan uses this premise as an excuse to stage yet another version of the “You’re surrounded!” action genre, featuring noble heroes wildly outnumbered by bloodthirsty savages — think of everything from Rio Bravo to Assault on Precinct 13 to Zack Snyder’s recent Army of the Dead.
Indeed the modern zombie movie is the narrative template here, and provides the film with a rip-roaring third act, featuring four embassy vehicles blasting their way through the war-torn city streets.
Anyone hoping, alas, for a shred of political context, or for the depiction of Somali citizens as anything other than dangerous, kill-crazy primitives, will be sorely disappointed.
15, 121min. In cinemas and on Curzon Home Cinema
