<Director Yoon Seon pays homage to Prince Myeong-Hwan in the epic poem-like film, Red Enemy.>
Many reasons explain why the movie is poetic. For starters, there are no unnecessities in the movie. It’s well-organized, and the director decisively left out pointless elaborations, creating a poem consisting of only the most beautiful and meaningful words.
People feel all kinds of emotions after reading a poem; just like most of these emotions continue lingering in our hearts, the viewers will leave with a lot to think about after watching Red Enemy. Additionally, I’m confused whether I’ve just watched a historical film or a healing film[1]. Prince Myeong-Hwan was understanding even though he was in pain; he was resentful and yet full of sorrow; he longed for her while wallowing in sadness. And ultimately, Prince Myeong-Hwan couldn’t help but continue loving her.
There have been several movies and dramas about Prince Myeong-Hwan thus far. However, I don’t think any of them were as historically accurate as Red Enemy or had looked at the historical facts from a different perspective. In more ways than one, this movie has challenged our common sense.
The prince’s relationship with the Kisaeng, Seol-Ha, had deviated from his love triangle with Queen Yoon. Instead, Prince Myeong-Hwan and Seol-Ha’s relationship turned into one that was simple but filled with love and loyalty. After watching the movie, I don’t think I’m the only person who briefly felt ashamed for seeing them from a worldly and vulgar perspective. As such, the movie has made me realize how backward our prejudices are.
Interestingly, this movie has no actors — only historical figures coming to life, showing us the moments of that time. Queen Moon-Jin was reminiscent of a cold and intelligent politician. She doled out her stinging criticisms in a calm and elegant tone; it was so charismatic that it made the viewers’ knees go weak.
However, when silent tears automatically rolled down her face after receiving the news about her son’s death and the successful coup, it reminded the viewers that Queen Moon-Jin was still a mother after all. The moment when she closed her eyes briefly and opened them, her soulless and hollow eyes gave the viewers a lot to think about. She had failed as both a politician and a mother.
The beautiful and selfish Queen Yoon. There are a lot of different criticisms about her. No, there were. That was until the perfect image of a nation’s mother that remained in the literature was single-handedly destroyed by a diary. She was calculative and cruel to one man but a wonderful queen to her people. It was a clear historical fact that the people were enraged and had grieved greatly over the death of the queen — not the king. That alone was the undeniable achievement of Queen Yoon. However, it made me wonder if that might have been the end result of the carefree nature created by the confidence and arrogance of a person who was loved.
There was also Inyoung-Gun — the victim in history. He was an ill-fated king who had been assassinated in the coup. The cause of the coup had never been clarified. People had always criticized him for being weak and indecisive. However, in Red Enemy, he was worried about his country even though he was prepared, but the powers beyond his reach always made him feel helpless. It was unclear whether he was weak because he had no power or couldn’t gain power because he was weak, but I was glad to learn that he wasn’t the incompetent king we know of.
I can’t help but talk about Prince Myeong-Hwan’s wife, Lady Park. The prince had completely neglected her and had never loved her; to the very end, he had turned his back on her. Through her character, the movie showed us that there are times when we don’t get what we want regardless of how hard we try.
Prince Myeong-Hwan didn’t give her even a sliver of hope. The cold-hearted side of him left a rather strong impression on the viewers. The prince would have been a hypocrite if he had tried to show half-hearted compassion and affection for his wife. The movie tells us that there is no reason to be heartbroken if there are no happy memories.
However, the married couple resembles each other in various ways — a wife who was never loved by her husband and a husband who was neglected and abandoned by his loved ones. And naturally, we realize that the prince wasn’t miserable because he wasn’t loved — he was in pain because he couldn’t give up.
In the movie, Prince Myeong-Hwan loved generously; he enjoyed life, and more importantly, he loved himself. Even though he had a mother who didn’t shower him with care and concern, a lover who only wanted to possess him without any sense of responsibility, and a wife whom he married as a political move and had zero affection for, the prince wasn’t miserable at all. No, he can’t be miserable anymore.
There are literary records that expressed the anger in Prince Myeong-Hwan’s heart as a ball of fire and stated that he was always shivering in the cold. After seeing him in the movie, we fall in love with Prince Myeong-Hwan’s great passionate love for himself, as well as his artistic soul. The movie makes one feel as though they are secretly looking at Prince Myeong-Hwan through the eyes and ears of a fan, as though they’re stalking him.
When the coup had been decided, they had planned to kill the king and his pregnant queen during the commotion to prevent them from seeking revenge in the future. Knowing this, the prince headed towards the palace with a sword in his hand. The prince looked very cool in the final scene, wearing a dopo and a gat. Even then, he exuded the playful vibe of a child going on a picnic. Until the very end, without even the slightest hesitation, he was evidently the one in charge of deciding his own life or death.
The beautiful prince of Joseon, Lee Hoo, took responsibility and enjoyed life till the very end. Even though it wasn’t sublime, his passionate self-love was endearing and admirable. Through his character in the movie, we are able to experience the warm spring that the prince didn’t get a chance to experience for himself, and we have come to love him.
“If there is beautiful redness in the world, it’s probably the burning flame in my heart. This flame is my love for art that keeps me alive.”
That quote by Prince Myeong-Hwan is why the title of this movie is Red Enemy.
(Film Critic, Park Hwan)
The presales tickets for Red Enemy were fully booked, and it was praised for being a beautiful epic film. Nonetheless, the storyline was solid and magnificent, such that the viewers were thoroughly entertained for two hours without feeling bored.
Strangely enough, as they were watching the movie, the viewers had forgotten about Actor Chae Woo-Jin and only thought about Prince Myeong-Hwan. That was the same with Chae Woo-Jin’s fans. All they could think about throughout the movie and even after it had ended was Prince Myeong-Hwan. They thought and wondered about his life, his art, and his love. They only subsequently remembered Chae Woo-Jin was the one playing Prince Myeong-Hwan and were taken by surprise.
Chae Woo-Jin, The Beauty Slayer, among other various nicknames he had, was nowhere to be found in the movie. All people could see was his character, Prince Myeong-Hwan. And it made it impossible for them to think of anybody else as Prince Myeong-Hwan except him. In other words, not only was Chae Woo-Jin Prince Myeong-Hwan, but only Chae Woo-Jin could be Prince Myeong-Hwan. People called that ‘making a strong impression.’
“The movie is very well-received, so why is Woo-Jin acting like that?” Hwang Yi-Young asked, feeling terrified as Woo-Jin suddenly started stomping his feet and pounding his forehead against the table out of nowhere. Kang Ho-Soo stopped her from walking over to Woo-Jin. He had a faint smile on his face as he shook his head.
“Right now, Woo-Jin’s having a huge internal battle between his pride and ambition.” Kang Ho-Soo proceeded to tell her about how LL-Studio sent in their offer to cast Woo-Jin two days ago, and the misunderstanding Woo-Jin had about them a couple of days before that. Kang Ho-Soo was still in a daze as he had only found out about it this morning, so he felt that Woo-Jin must be feeling worse.
“Ho-hollywood~!” As soon as Hwang Yi-Young exclaimed loudly, Woo-Jin lifted his head from the table and looked at her. If he were in a manhwa, he would have dark clouds hanging over his head, raining on him.
“How important is the role? If it’s a supporting role, it’s probably not very important, but since Rayford is the director of the movie, you have to do it no matter what. Even if you’re only appearing in the movie for a minute! Woo-Jin~! You’re doing it, right?”
Woo-Jin looked at the elated Hwang Yi-Young and recalled what he had said a couple of days ago. He closed his eyes in horror and turned his head away. He had behaved in a very proud and arrogant manner because he thought it was a hidden camera prank, but they really were the director and writer of LL-Studio.
“I still have my pride, though….” Realistically speaking, pride was of little importance at this juncture. A great opportunity had come knocking on the door, and it would be foolish to hesitate. He just couldn’t readily accept it because of his pride that wasn’t even that important.
“There aren’t any programs doing hidden camera pranks these days, though.” As soon as Hwang Yi-Young made that comment after hearing what Kang Ho-Soo said, Woo-Jin started to tear his hair out with both hands.
“It’s my first time seeing Woo-Jin act like that.”
“Director Rayford said he would be in Korea for another two weeks. And if Woo-Jin is interested in the movie after reading the script, he would like to meet him in person anytime during his time here.”
“What’s so difficult about that?”
“It’s not an issue of time. If it were up to Woo-Jin, he would want to meet them right away, but his pride is stopping him.”
After receiving an official offer from LL-Studio, CEO Jang Soo-Hwan confirmed the facts and told Woo-Jin about it just this morning. And the first thing Woo-Jin did was read the script in question.
“Unfortunately, I guess he really likes the character, Jin.” If it had been a movie with terrible writing, he would have been able to keep his pride till the end and mock Hollywood. If that had been the case, the sun would be shining over Woo-Jin’s head right now instead of dark clouds.
CEO Jang Soo-Hwan had never thought about Hollywood; he quickly looked into LL-Studio’s upcoming movie. He found out that they had already confirmed the main characters and that naturally, a couple of actors from other countries were aiming to get the role of Jin.
“The actors who want to play Jin are all distinguished actors, so Woo-Jin is very anxious at the moment. He has to pretend to ponder over it for a few days, but what if they change their minds?”
“What exactly is there to worry about! They’re not asking you to go for an audition — they’re offering you the role right away. If they came all the way to Korea to meet you, doesn’t it mean it’s already pretty much in the bag? Woo-Jin, be confident.” Hwang Yi-Young walked up to Woo-Jin and ran her fingers through his unkempt hair. He didn’t have time to sit around and be listless because he had a red carpet event and an interview scheduled today.
“Even meeting them is hard,” Woo-Jin muttered, leaving Hwang Yi-Young in charge of his hair. Even though he was definitely going to accept the offer, he was worried about how he should behave around them. Should he be as haughty as he was a few days ago? Or should he act like he usually would in front of directors? He couldn’t do as he pleased, like what he did a few days ago. His decision to stay firm and proud and the mindset that helping others would do no harm had landed him in the current situation where his head was in conflict with his heart.
“Nonetheless, the fact that they officially sent the script and documents over as requested means that they don’t have an issue with your attitude back then, right? Americans probably have a different sentiment about things like that compared to the people here. I think there’s no need for you to be too cautious.”
After hearing Kang Ho-Soo’s advice, Woo-Jin smiled wryly and asked if it was really okay for him to do that.
“So what if it doesn’t work out? What’s so special about Hollywood?” Just like his intimidating appearance, as soon as Kang Ho-Soo spoke fearlessly, Woo-Jin and Hwang Yi-Young paused and looked at him.
“I think it’s a big deal.”
“Oppa, you don’t have to act so tough.” Hwang Yi-young raised her hand, which had been trembling ever since they said the word ‘Hollywood.’
1. Koreans use the term ‘healing’ to refer to things that soothe/lift one’s spirits, i.e., healing trips. In this case, it means ‘feel-good movie.’ ☜
