Review for 'Train to Busan'

Review for 'Train to Busan'

            The chosen film for the day (17 January 2019) is a South Korean action, thriller film that focused on zombie apocalypse, named as ‘Train to Busan’. The film presents a mysterious virus being spread out nationwide, probably caused by an irresponsible investigation or experiment of a bio-technology company, causing people turning into zombies which is terrifying.

            The film begins with an ordinary man, Seok-Woo which works very hard for his company isolating his daughter Su-an without realizing. It then takes place on a train, KTX-101 which both Seok-Woo and Su-an were on the way to Busan, wanting to visit Su-an’s mother as to grant her wish for her birthday. In the beginning, everything was fine on the train, people got on and settle to go on for their trip, until an infected young woman got in, which I personally felt unfortunate for the passengers. Seok-Woo was tired as he fell asleep, Su-an then leaving him for toilet not wanting to wake him up. She then witnessed the mysterious virus starting to spread in the train, with an uncontrollable speed.

            There were several important roles and characters which were also on board with them, including Sang-Hwa, a tough working-class husband and his kind-hearted pregnant wife Seong-Kyeong, following by a high school baseball player Yong-guk and a cheerleader Jin-hee, which their teammates were bitten and transformed into zombies, a self-centred Chief Operating Officer (COO) Yon-suk which sacrificed multiples only to survive himself, In-gil and Jong-gil, the kind-hearted pair of elderly sisters, and a homeless man struggled to survive when experiencing trauma effects at the same time.

Seok-Woo and Sang-Hwa.

            A process of questioning humanity is well illustrated in the film, which I found interesting and consoled at the same time. The mysterious virus spread in the train, causing the scene of chaos and tragedy of passengers running for their lives trying to escape from those who turned into zombies. In such terrifying and horrible situation, Seok-Woo the main character, was expected to save lives, but he did not. He dragged her daughter Su-an into safety, but he almost left behind three survivors, Sang-Hwa, Seong-Kyeong and the baby inside, by closing the compartment door. Fortunately, they managed to get in. As shown in the film, Seok-Woo was a selfish and egoistic man that preferred to live on with his instincts, saving himself and his daughter to survive. While his daughter, Su-an, who was more considerate and respectful towards others, giving her seat to an old woman In-gil, recalling her grandmother experiencing joint pain, causing the contrast of being an adult and being a child. It was a sad reality which makes me think of, the society organized with different level of social class but being educated with a fixed-mindset system is only a process of making people to think the same. As an example, “I need to survive”; therefore, others are the ones to be sacrificed. It is not a must for people to be helpful and selflessness, but it is about humanity, how we perceive and define others’ lives are.

            As the story went on, Seok-Woo became more considerate compared to the beginning because he experienced the need and hopelessness for someone to help. He finally reaches his hands out to help others, fighting along with the fighter Sang-Hwa and the baseball player Yong-guk. There comes one of the most favourite scenes for my personal opinions, where they ran their lives to get onto the train again because Daejeon station was being dominated by the military soldiers that became a whole bunch of zombies. I like the way they portraited love for saving their love ones and the strangers that they do not even know. A father doing absolutely anything to protect his daughter, like how Seok-Woo did to Su-an. A husband caring and loving towards his wife, like how Sang-Hwa did, patiently waiting for his wife outside of the toilet, never argue with her, and puts her life in priority. A young man cherishing his relationships with his teammates, like how Yong-guk looking at them with sadness not wanting to hurt anyone of them even though they are not ‘humans’ anymore and Yong-guk trying his best to keep an eye on and protect his girlfriend-want-to-be Jin-hee.

Seok-Woo, Sang-Hwa and others trying to get to car 15.

            These characters were the ones that I think mostly expected to survive until the end. Unfortunately, none of them did except Seong-Kyeong and Su-an. It was sorrowful and heart-breaking to watch Su-an screaming to let Seok-Woo stay. Seok-Woo finally improved the relationship between him and his daughter, and Su-an finally understands his father loves her so much, watching, but he has to let go and the smile before throwing out himself from the train recalling the scene holding baby Su-an in his hands, was tearing my heart apart. Seong-Kyeong is pregnant but she was also caring towards others as she told her husband to save the one who got infected when she know nothing about the virus. Not to mention that the elderly sisters In-gil and Jong-gil, In-gil sacrificed herself to save others by stopping them in-front looking at Jong-gil, like saying her last goodbye. Jong-gil felt the sadness and madness inside her the moment, looking at her infected sister, and the selfish ones which only think about surviving themselves, she chose to open the compartment door and join her sister. It maybe unfair to the others, but on the other point of view, Jong-gil was already an elderly, she probably has only one reason to live which is her sister. The fact that the pain of Jong-gil having no motivations to survive any longer is also torturing.

Su-an screaming towards Seok-Woo.

This was the second time I am watching the film, and the feeling of tension and sadness were still there. The first time watching the film, I was scared and having nightmares. The sadness inside was definitely enhancing and being emphasized this time. I understand the feeling of having to let go, seeing our love ones die or dying in-front of them is not a good experience, those scenes made me recall how I held my grandmother’s hand when she was dead, and her hand was cold. Some may call zombies ‘undead’, it can be interpreted as not dead, they still move but they do not have emotions and mercy anymore. In my opinions, this may be symbolizing the process of human not having humanity.

            A highlight that has to be mentioned, a good comparison between both the COO Yon-suk that is selfish and self-centred sacrificing everyone and ending up taking away Seok-Woo which I wanted to slap him for, and the homeless man which his name is not revealed but saved Seong-Kyeong and Su-an trading himself as a prey for the zombies. It is not always about the wealth and the appearance of a person, it is about the mercy and kindness one holds on their heart. The homeless man may be untidy and unhygienic which made people to feel disgusted, but to be very honest, it may be disgusting, but not having humanity is more disgusting.

            One of the details that has to be complimented is the zombies, which are actually professional dancers and actors. They move drastically with unnatural poses to give the sense of naturalistic for zombies. The way the producers and editors chose to have the film with the least of bright and vibrant colours and filtered it with a cold coloured background is enhancing the atmosphere of the film.

            Overall, I think that the film is using zombie apocalypse to bring out some messages to us. Zombies may be scary, but having no humanity is scarier. This may just be a sentence, but it is also a choice as a human.