![]() The film begins with Detective Park investigating the body of a dead, violated woman who’s been stuffed into a drainage canal. The Times Are-a Changin’ Too Fast to Keep Up With Subscribe to Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Related article: MUST WATCH – Hollywood Insider’s CEO Pritan Ambroase’s Love Letter to Black Lives Matter – VIDEO In celebration of Memories of Murder recently becoming available to stream on VOD, I hope to shed some light on aspects of the film that are overlooked, so that future audiences may have a deeper appreciation for this rightfully-labeled masterpiece. However, without that knowledge, I believe much of the satire and social commentary, which Bong deftly weaves into the cop procedural, is lost. ![]() Nevertheless, the film has an enduring legacy, which speaks to Bong’s ability to craft a powerful narrative that’s independent of the social context. Detective Park Doo-man, portrayed by Song Kang-ho, is blatantly corrupt, and undoubtedly a satirical portrayal of the police of the time, yet I’ve read some reviews that simply characterize him as “a misguided cop who ultimately cares about justice,” which, to me, is almost like reading a review of Casablanca where the reviewer doesn’t know what Nazis are. My review of this film isn’t the first to exist, and it certainly won’t be the last, but I seldom see a review tackle the film from a historical perspective. Unfortunately, the historical and cultural context is almost entirely lost on Western audiences, yet it’s still regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. Why am I digging up all this history? Well, because Memories of Murder, Bong Joon-ho’s crime drama about Korea’s first serial killer, takes place in 1986. Any one reported incident is but a drop in the bucket, but there is a rather famous incident in 1987 when 21-year-old university student Park Jong-chul was tortured to death during an investigation over his alleged anti-government activities, sparking what would be known as the June Democratic Struggle. Police brutality was also so widespread at the time that it became commonplace.
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