Taulec's Rating: 
Genre: Historical-fiction/War
MPAA Rating: No MPAA rating. Contains brutal martial warfare and coarse language.
Runtime: 154 minutes
Official Website: Musa [Korean, in Hangul with some English]
Director: Sung-su Kim
Screenplay: No Info
Cast:
Woo-sung Jung .... Yeo-sol
Sung-kee Ahn .... Jin-lib
Jin-mo Ju .... Choi Jung
Zhang Ziyi .... Princess Bu-yong
Yong-woo Park .... Ju-myeong
Jeong-hak Park .... Ga-nam
Hye-jin Yu .... Du-chung
Seok-yong Jeong .... Ha-il
Du-il Lee .... Ji-san
Yeong-mok Han .... Dan-saeng
rest of cast listed alphabetically
Rongguang Yu .... Rambulhua, Yuan General
Setting & Background
The year is 1375ce, and the Ming Dynasty in China has recently been established. The Ming are still fighting against the remnant of the Yuan Dynasty. An envoy of Korean delegates led by the General Choi Jung are sent from the kingdom of Koryo to make peace with the new Chinese government. However, they are accused of being spies and exiled. On the way to their exile, they are ambushed by Mongolians, who kill of their Ming escorts, but leave what's left of the Koryo envoy alive. Travelling with the envoy is a quiet slave named Yeo-sol, and an archer named Jin-lib.
They decide to try and make their way back to Koryo, but by happenstance come across a Chinese princess named Bu-yong being held captive by the Yuan general Rambulhua. Choi effects Bu-yong's escape, and through a series of misadventures they attempt to make their way to Nanjing, where Choi plans to hand over the princess to the Emperor and correct their misunderstanding. Things don't go as planned however, and they end up at a deserted fort as General Rambulhua practices a campaign of scorched earth in his pursuit of the princess. After taking in refugees from a town destroyed by Rambulhua, the envoy and the princess hudless in the fort, waiting for Rambulhua to come....
My Review
Musa is a powerful movie, but it is not without it's flaws. Most of them are not technical, but the shallow characterizations. To be sure, the actors bring a lot of presence to them, but I didn't feel they were as fleshed out as they could have been.
The filmmaking is beautiful. The opening scene is very good. It's dramatic, delightfully disjointed and surreal. It sets the tone for hte rest of the movie, and prepares you for the fact that it might not be a happy movie. The cinematography is carefully set and contemporary. The music is also good, helping to set and enhance the visuals of the screen. The editing didn't seem choppy at all to me...it seemed well put together. There is the shaky "combat camera" technique used during fighting scenes to keep them from getting too horrific, but it's not any worse than Saving Private Ryan.
Some of the visuals are very violent however. Musa follows the trend of recent historical movies containing realistic guts and blood violence. Saving Private Ryan really let the cork out of the bottle, although the same effect was achieved earlier by Full Metal Jacket and Braveheart. I don't know the precedent for this level of graphic violence in a Korean movie, but some of it was probably influenced by Hollywood. It is something that I approve of though, because I've never believed that violence should be portrayed as cartoonish. It should be sickening...because it's that way in real life. If you have a weak stomach, watch out for decapitations, forced amputations, and major arteries squirting like fountains.
The acting in this movie is great. I can't understand Korean, but the tone of the actor's voices was convincing and allowed me to feel their emotions. I don't know if it's academy award winning, but who cares about the academy awards...they're all sickening Anglophiles anyway.
Of course, I'll start with Zhang Ziyi, playing Princess Bu-yong. She actually doesn't have much to say in the movie. Most of her acting is done through expression, especially the expression of her eyes. Zhang Ziyi is very good...I think she always is. I might be biased here, because it's hard not to like anything someone that pretty does. Her part isn't that huge, but her character is central to the plot. The whole reason all the death and gore is going on is because of her. Her character is both easy and hard to like at the same time. She grew up being part of the upper crust of a Confucian society. She is both hard and soft, loving her people and using them at the same time. It's obvious that she has a hard time coming to grips with her status. Is she really more important than anyone else? Are all the deaths worth sending her home? It's not something easily answered. Probably one of the most beautiful shots in the movie is when we first see Princess Bu-yong, and her face is partially covered by a white veil blowing in the wind.
My favorite character and actor in the movie besides Zi was Wu-Sung Jung, who plays the slave Yeo-sol. He has a very expressive and sweetly gentle face, while having hardened dagger like eyes at the same time. He says very little in the movie, which I don't think amounts to more than a few lines. He carries himself much like Zi, through great expression acting. It's obvious that his character has some feelings of love-at-first-sight for Bu-yong, and he protects her even to the detriment of others. He is a very good warrior, although I'm not sure where he learned it from being a slave. My favorite scenes with him were when he cuts of a merchants head, and another where he throws a halberd-like weapon into a Mongolian's head. I'm still not sure how he did it.
Sung-kee Ahn and Jin-mo Ju who play Jin Lib and Choi Jung respectively are also good. There is a subtle tension between the two characters, as Jin tries to curb Choi's more ruthless military actions. Jin kind of acts as Choi's Confucian advisor. One thing that is played out well is the very subtle tension between Choi, Bu-yong, and Yeo-sol. This is mostly accomplished by looks, as they all consider something that could never be in the society of the time.
Another favorite is Rongguang Yu, who plays General Rambulhua. This guy just looks cool. His armor, his demeanor, and his goatee exude regality. Yes, he is extremely brutal, but he's not evil. There is no evil in this movie. He even maintains his regality as he oversees the burning of a town of innocents. All he really wants to do is get this stupid thing over with and get back to the freedom of the plains.
All of the other actors did well, but they weren't as memorable to me. The movie did take care to reveal names and small snippits of their pasts, but we never really got to know them that well besides finding out that most of the Korean soldiers accompanying the envoy miss their loved ones at home. There's also the obligatory pregnant woman from one of the refugees, that I didn't think was really necessary. The two best minor characters are the Korean translator and the Chinese prostitute rescued from the Mongols. The translator is flawed, but realistic, and is never quite able to muster enough courage until it's too late. He kind of reminds me of the translator in Saving Private Ryan.
One thing handled masterfully by Musa is that there's no good or evil characters. Things happen because they happen, and nothing is really anybody's fault. This seems strongly Buddhist for some reason, showing the impermanence of things. Perhaps I'm wrong, because I've only superficially studied Buddhism, so I won't speak like I know what I'm talking about.
Over Musa is a great movie...although it may not be satisfying to everyone. It doesn't have a Hollywood ending, so if you're looking for a happy-feely movie, this might not be for you. If you're looking for a good historical-ficiton with good acting, cinematography, and bloody combat, this is a movie I'd recommend viewing.
Taulec's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
