Known as an action director for two decades, Seung-Wan Ryoo broke the traditional genre boundaries and won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 58th Cannes Film Festival and Best Director at the 2005 Busan Film Critics Association for his film Crying Fist starring Choi Min-sik (‘Old Boy’) and his younger brother Ryoo Seung-bum.
This combination of deeply significnt storytelling and conventional action is further developed in Escape from Mogadishu, the story of the two rival Koreas which was unfolding in the late 1980s. North and South Korea were facing an impasse over their campaigns to join the United Nations (neither had yet been admitted) and getting the approval from the African members of the UN was their aim as each estabished diplomatic outposts throughout Africa. At the same time, in 1991 the brutal civil war broke out in Somalia, and it trapped the two embassies inside the country and cut them off from all outside communication. This story is largely unknown, not only to the world at large but within the two Koreas as well.
Further breaking tradition, So. Korea has submitted this combination of commercially popular genre filmmaking and an unknown politically thrilling story to the Academy for Oscar consideration. While I do not think it is liable to break through the Academy’s own tradition of awards for international features, the story will have an advantage through its nomination of reaching larger audiences. In this day of diametrically opposing factionalism, such a story casts a healing balm on our spirits.
It successffully hits the same note as the traditional Christmas stories we have seen in movies when warring France and Germany or U.S. and whatever enemy it is fighting at the moment establish a temporary truce in order to celebrate the peaceful message of Christmas, like Joyeux Noel, set in World War I and told from the French, British, and German perspectives of the legendary Christmas Truce of 1914, when soldiers from opposing sides laid down their arms and came together as mere men to celebrate Christmas in peace.
Only in Escape from Mogadishu, the truce is not over a holiday but is established for the time it took for the two rival nations to escape safely out of the civil war torn Somalia. They had to put away their differences in a manner each government would consider treasonous and they successfully did so, even though when, on reaching their safe haven, they had to dissimulate the cooperation and its ensuing trust and goodwill established during their harrowing escape. They parted from each other without a backward glance and the two governments were left with no evidence of their friendly cooperation.
Watch the trailer here.
It is 1991, Mogadishu, capital city and most populous city of Somalia was torn by civil war. The personnel and the families of the South Korean embassy, isolated with no communication were enduring hail of bullets and shells. Then one night, personnel from the North Korean embassy knocked on the door asking for help. People of both embassies united with one goal, to escape from Mogadishu.
“Korea was the only divided nation in the world at that time. And at that time, both North and South Korea had not been admitted to the United Nations,” the director Seung-wan Ryoo said at a Deadline panel discussing the film. “The international community recognized Korea more as an entity than a country… North Korea wanted to enter the UN as one nation, while South Korea thought it would be more realistic to enter as separate.”
Spurred by the need to become a part of the UN and establish their countries on the world stage (though both countries had different reasons for joining), the countries’ embassies found themselves on the continent of Africa, specifically Somalia, to court votes.
Today, Somalia is still being torn apart by war and famine and imposes a travel ban, so the film had to be made in another country. The film was shot 100% in Morocco and the production took great lengths to recreate early 1990s Mogadishu.
The production team spent four months location-hunting around the
African continent to find the ideal place to recreate the cityscape of
Mogadishu. At the end of those efforts, they determined that the
Moroccan city of Essaouira would be the most ideal setting in which to
carry out filming. Sure enough, a former employee of the Somali embassy
visited the site and described it as the perfect counterpart to Mogadishu.
The production of Escape from Mogadishu was carried out with
the participation of local crew members, and in particular the experienced
location manager Mohamed Benhmamane, who has worked on such films as Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, The Bourne Ultimatum and Glad-
iator, was closely involved in pre-production. Cooperation with the local government began six months before shooting, and through
numerous photographs and other materials from the site, the filmmakers
were able to create an appropriate look and concept in which to set the
events of the story. By decorating the roads and covering them with dirt,
the production team was able to re-create the dirt roads of 1990s-era
Mogadishu, and Somali architectural elements were added to the
Moroccan buildings to strengthen the sense of reality. To fully capture the
strong natural sunlight of Morocco, the shooting of the scenes was
timed to take full advantage of the sun, resulting in a unique and
unforgettable look for the film.
During the three months of shooting, the production team successfully
overcame the barriers of language and culture and worked hard to take full
advantage of the location. In painstakingly recreating the landscape of
1990 Somalia as accurately as possible, extra gravity and realism are lent
to this story, with a striking landscape, a vivid sense of spectacle, and the
historical weight of the situation.
Another major challenge was to depict the image of people living within a
foreign culture in a natural, convincing, and appropriate manner. Art
Director Kim Bo-mook put a special emphasis on realism in depicting the
interior of the embassy, a building constructed in the Islamic architectural
style that housed Koreans who then fashioned the space in their own way.
Action director Youn Dae-won worked closely with Moroccan
counterparts in carrying out the action training for the civil war scenes.
Although they did not speak the same language, they were able to
communicate through action to help bring a more realistic look to the
battles taking place on the streets of Mogadishu. In this way, the leaders of each department worked closely together to create a synergy which audiences will be able to feel in the vivid depictions of war throughout the city.
The political thriller centers on two rival diplomats — the South Korean ambassador of Somalia Han Sin-seong (Kim Yoon-seok) and the North Korean ambassador of Somalia Rim Yong-su (Heo Joon-ho) — as they work together to survive in and escape the country as war rages in Mogadishu.
The legendary actor Kim Yoon-Seok — with his infinite breadth, including diverse roles in films from 1987: When the Day Comes to Dark Figure of Crime and The Fortress — who appears as the South Korean ambassador Han Shin-sung, projects both the image of an ordinary husband hoping to return to Korea and that of a leader who must take charge of a chaotic situation in order to protect the employees at his embassy. A particular drawing factor for the film is the fact that Escape from Mogadishu represents the first pairing of Kim Yoon-seok and Zo In-sung. Kim Yoon-seok says of his co-star, “Despite the age difference, he is an actor with whom I felt a great camaraderie.” Director Ryoo Seung-wan, speaking of their acting partnership, said, “From the first time they met each other, they not only supported each other but also tried to highlight each other’s performances, and I think you can see that on the screen.”
In addition, the distinctive performance of Huh Joon-Ho (Netflix’s King-
dom) as the veteran North Korean diplomat Rim Yong-Soo strikes a delicate balance in terms of acting tone. The acting of the ensemble cast plays a key role in recreating the extreme tension and panic of people who find themselves suddenly trapped in the midst of a civil war
A production team known for combining commercial popularity
with high-quality filmmaking has assembled for the making of Escape
from Mogadishu. Led by director Ryoo Seung-wan, the team behind the
2013 blockbuster The Berlin File has reassembled to create this ambitious
2021 global project.
The team received advice from war journalist Tae Sang-ho to recreate the image of 1991 Somalia, down to the type of guns used. Also contributing was a highly accomplished and experienced technical team, including such members as lighting director Lee Jae-hyuk, who worked on Black Panther and Okja. Lee collaborated with director of photography Choi Young-hwan, who previously brought his immersive shooting style to works such as Veteran, The Berlin File, and The Thieves, to vividly recreate the otherworldly landscape of a city turned into a battlefield. Making strong use of “practical light” from the location, they effectively depicted the feeling of being isolated within a dangerous environment.
International Sales Agent Lotte licensed film to U.S. and Canadian distribution by Well Go, Australia — Limelight, Hong Kong — Universe and VII Pillars, Japan — Culture, Singapore — Golden Village Pictures and Purple Plan, So. Korea — Lotte.
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