The President's Barber (2004)
Hyojadong ibalsa – The President's Barber (2004)
DVDRip 480p - TinyBearDs | MKV | 846 x 480 | x264 600kbps 23.976fps | HE-AACv2 64kbps 2CH
Language: Korean | Subtitle: English x 2/Korean Included | 116min | 555.91MB | 3% Recovery
Genre: Comedy | Drama | 2 wins & 1 nomination
IMDb Rating: 7.0/10 (328 users)
DVDRip 480p - TinyBearDs | MKV | 846 x 480 | x264 600kbps 23.976fps | HE-AACv2 64kbps 2CH
Language: Korean | Subtitle: English x 2/Korean Included | 116min | 555.91MB | 3% Recovery
Genre: Comedy | Drama | 2 wins & 1 nomination
IMDb Rating: 7.0/10 (328 users)
Director: Chan-sang Lim
Seong Han-mo (Song Kang-ho) is a barber and owns a shop in the president's neighborhood, the Blue House. Politically not very well-versed he always joins his acquaintances' opinions and at first also isn't aware what consequences result from president Rhee's resignation in 1960 after several student demonstrations. Rhee leaves a power vacuum that is soon filled by a military regime led by General Park Chung-hee (Jo Yeong-jin) who puts himself at the top of the government in 1963. Han-mo, however, has different concerns as his wife Min-ja (Moon So-ri) brings a son into this world of politically turbulent times. Fortunately, Han-mo's barber shop is running well and he has no need to concern himself about how to feed his family anymore when KCIA-Chef Jang (Son Byung-ho) enters his shop and orders him to the president. From that day on simple-minded Han-mo is the president's barber and at least for his neighbors one of the most important people in the country.
An IMDb Review: Very amusing political satire:Screenshots:
A well-meaning but politically naive barber gets pulled into the inner circle of the South Korean dictator Park Chung-Hee, with rather baleful consequences for his hapless family. This sharp political satire covers roughly twenty years in South Korean political history, from the viewpoint of the barber's son.
Of particular interest to Korean history buffs will be the portrayal of Gerneral Park himself. While the film acknowledges the dictator's laid-back charm and understated charisma, it also leaves no doubt about the vicious nature of the repression which he oversaw. The contrast between Park's appealing personal style and the brutal actions of his underlings makes for a useful observation about the dangers of charismatic leadership.
Alternating the action between the presidential residence and a nearby neighborhood, with occasional stops in the torture chambers of the police state and the countryside dwelling of a shamanistic healer, the narrative deftly manages a multi-front satire on Korean society during the middle Cold War period. And though the script is unsparing in its acerbic view of Park and his clique, it generally avoids the smug cheap shots that often blight similar cinematic forays into political satire. Park's ordinary admirers are seen as misguided, sometimes even rascally, but are left with their basic humanity intact and never treated as objects of outright contempt.
General Park's remaining fans(of which there are quite a few, it seems)will probably take issue with the script's omission of any reference to the social and economic advances that took place under his watch. Park haters, on the other hand, might resent the portrayal of this murderous dictator as a soft-spoken and genial family man. Such caveats aside, this film is highly recommended to fans of political satire and anyone with an interest in Korean history.
The President's Barber (2004)
