The Uprising

The Uprising is a beautifully staged epic about one of the bloodiest incidents from Korean history. Park Kwang-Su stays close to historic reality and brings an episode to life by spinning events into a web around the viewer. In 1901 there was a people’s rebellion in Cheju, a southern island of Korea. It had its roots in economic repression and religious conflicts. The Catholic church spread the Christian faith in a pretty aggressive way, without any respect for traditional customs and religions. The islanders formed a rebel army to protect their rights, a battle that led to the occupation of the town of Cheju, where the Catholics had dug themselves in, awaiting help from the militarily superior French troops. Mediation between the two sides did not help. The battle was fought to the bitter end. Park does not just show the barbarity of war, but also the complexity and absurdity that seem intrinsic in a civil war. Alongside his fascination for the mental powers of the rebel movement, Park is clearly gripped by the era he brings to life. But he doesn’t just want to show the viewer something of that period, he also wants to say something about his own time. Not in the form of a metaphor, but by reflecting the contradictions of that era in today’s Korean society, which is still closed.