Song of the Bandits

Out of the blue, while watching episode 7 of Once Upon A Small Town, I remembered that I had finished watching Song of the Bandits at the beginning of October! So as soon as noticed, I rushed to write a review about this very intriguing production that does not fit into any K-drama framework I am aware of 😏 

Chinese land, Japanese money, Joseon people. This is the most memorable sentance of this drama and surprisingly gives a nice summary of story's background. Everything takes place in the 1920s, when the kingdom of Korea and its lands fell under the occupation of Japan. Some Korans stayed in their hometowns, while others fled and settled in China where their life wasn't much better. Korean world was destroyed and turned upside down. From these ashes of society arose a group of bandits fighting against the occupiers.

Another short drama in my collection but I've never watched one like this before. K-drama meets Western... What the hell... and how the hell was it so good?! 😆 These were beautifully balanced 9 episodes of the drama that took place on the Sino-Korean border during the brutal Japanese occupation. As a European, I am mainly taught about the history of my region of the world, let alone the period of the 20th century, which was a crazy time for Europe. Therefore, it was extremely interesting for me to see what this period of time looked like in other places. Although Song of the Bandits is a fictional story of the fight for Korean independence, as I checked it on the Internet, it had is some truth in. My country has been occupied by many countries in its history, not for a few years, but for many decades. Therefore, the comparison of similar historical stages was doubly intriguing 😅

Moving away from the history and moving on to the show. I was afraid to watch it because I don't like westerns 😑 But I caught a glimpse of Cha Chung Hwa in the trailer! and I will never ever miss as drama with THIS woman. I love her and now I wonder why I didn't put her on my list of favorite actresses.... 😬🙈 She was brilliant once again, true to her character and THE reason why I started watching Song of the Bandits, but it was the other characters who  convinced me to stay until the end. There was Choi Chung Soo, Go Kyu Pil and Lee Jae Kyoon, who are familiar to me from other dramas, and who, even though played supporting roles, performed them very well. I don't picture them ever as main characters, but they do a lot in the background. Their characters have never disappointed me 👌 As for the main trio they were just fantastic. Kim Nam Gil was a perfectly conflicted bandit leader and Lee Hyun Wook an ideally ambitious yet misfit military man. Only Seo Hyun could do a bit better for a mysterious supporter of the fight for independence. Generally, I can't say a bad word about the cast of the series because each of them was good. So 9/10 for that!

The cinematography and costumes were beautiful, and the overall vibe of the series was very unique. I read somewhere that he is similar to Mr. Sunshine. I've read about this series and heard a lot of good things, but I haven't had a chance to see it yet. I guess I'll have to now because I really liked this period of time in Korea 😁

The fight scenes were creative in both movements and usage of surrounding objects 😅 also they were bloodier than I ever anticipated for Asian drama. Diversity of guns and knives was refreshing 😁 I realli liked the character of Lee Ho Jung (the female assassin) who stayed competent and strong from throughout the drama. Her story grabbed my heart and I fell in love with it from the very first moments. The way she lived her last years was amazing. I was grateful for her catharsis, joining the rebels and finding something like a family 😍 Kim Nam Gil & Lee Ho Jung were captivating and fun together, they built quite an interesting relationship and I'm glad they didn't turn it into somekind of romance because it would have completely ruined the drama 🙈

The scenery was stunning, the music was emotional, the cast was talented. I enjoyed this drama at every step. I loved how fast paced and coherent it was. Even though the last episodes were a bit slower and coherency was lower it still was a strong drama. There was so much to finish and close that the retardation was needed. The ending came a bit abruptly and left us with unanswered questions but in the same time added some mystery to the bandits and their future 👍

The future is that they will have to fight long years from now on till the invaders will go away. Similarly to the literature from the occupation of my country, hope and determination are strong and spread throughout society 💘 The ending of Song of the Bandits indicates that the people of Joseon will fight to the last Korean to regain what was lost. This is the second Korean drama that made me so interested in the history of this part of the world. The first one was Crush Landing On You with North & South Korea differences and now I am ordering a book covering the history of Korea 😇

Throughout the entire drama, I was wondering why it was called what it was called. Most drama titles fit what is happening... but here no one sings. Ok, we have bandits, but that's it. Only in episode 7, Kim Nam Gil mentions that he wants people to sing about them, about what they are trying to achieve, so that they will be remembered if they fail. The phrase and concept of memory is very similar to the lyrics of Josh Groban's song "Remember" that plays at the end of the movie "Troy". This was the moment when the Song of the Bandits solidified itself in the ratings of 8/10 points 😍 People! You must give it a try! 

.... sorry for the length of the post 🙈😂😱