Once upon a time in High School- This testosterone-fueled
movie is about a shy boy named Hyun Soo who transfers to
an unruly boys school. When the incorrigible students aren’t
fighting each other, they’re selling pornography,
drinking at discos and extorting money from each other.
It seems like the school is the training ground of future
gangsters. The main character, Hyun Soo, is meek because
of his violent father, but a series of events helps him
come out of his shell.
One of the school’s kingpins is the ultra-cool bad
boy Woo-Sik. Woo Sik is always kicking butts and no one
messes with him. Woo-Sik takes Hyun Soo under his wing after
Hyun Soo displays excellent skills on the basketball court.
Despite their opposite personalities, the pair become good
friends until a pretty and virtuous girl, Eun Joo, comes
into the picture and inadvertently tears their relationship
apart. Hyun Soo, who is painfully shy, harbors a secret
crush on Eun-Joo, but it’s the aggresive Woo-Sik who
wins her affection. Hyun Soo is inwardly devastated when
he sees them together, so he decides to concentrate on mastering
Jeet Kune Do, the martial art that Bruce Lee made famous.
Korean movies often remind me of the book “Lord of
the Flies”. In this classic book, a bunch of boys
get stranded on a deserted island and when basal primal
instincts take over, it becomes a war where only the strong
survive. This movie, like many other Korean movies, is so
Lord of the Flies. The alpha male, Woo Sik, gets the girl
and Hyun Soo only gains the respect of the school (and his
father) after he wins a fight with one of the school’s
kingpins.
Although this movie was a box office hit, it wasn’t
great. Some may say it's bad rehash of the 2001 hit, Chingu,
without the adult gangster part.There are so many redundant
fight sequences in this movie and the plot is somewhat pointless.
Everytime you think the movie is over, there's another scene.
In my opinion, they should have paid closer attention to
editing.
The
tricks they employed were also too obvious. For example,
in one scene Hyun Soo was considering suicide and it was
raining. The rain of course symbolized the tears he couldn’t
outwardly shed. The romantic subplot was there to draw in
female viewers and despite the cheese factor, it worked.
I can just imagine a bunch of giggly teeny boppers sighing
at the sight of the charismatic leading men. There’s
one worthwhile scene where Hyun Soo, played by Korean heartthrob,
Kwon Sang Woo, takes his shirt off and does a martial arts
sequence. I’m sure girls came to see this film just
to gawk at Kwon Sang Woo’s rippling abs.
This movie really makes a statement about Korean society,
however and that’s what makes it interesting. In Korean
society there’s a macho stereotype and this movie
reinforces that by subconsciously saying that only tough
men can survive and get what they want. In this movie, you
can also see how frustrating the rigid school system is
in Korea. Basically, there are only a handful of desirable
universities to get into. If you get into these top schools
than you have it made for the rest of your life. If you
don’t get in, it will be very difficult to get a job.
At one point, Hyun Soo’s father says to him “You
know what you’ll be if you don’t get into college?
A surplus man!” Later on Hyun Soo proclaims “Fuck
all the schools in Korea!” The all important university
entrance exam is obviously a great source of stress and
frustration for students. Many turn to illegal activities
if they can’t get into a top university. Hopefully
for Koreans this outdated system will change soon.
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