Save the Green Planet!
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| Save the Green Planet! | |
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 Save the Green Planet! promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Jang Jun-hwan |
| Produced by | Sidus Pictures |
| Written by | Jang Jun-hwan |
| Starring | Shin Ha-kyun Baek Yun-shik |
| Music by | Dong-jun Lee |
| Cinematography | Kyung-Pyo Hong |
| Editing by | Gok-ji Park |
| Distributed by | CJ Entertainment Koch-Lorber Films |
| Release date(s) |  2003 |
| Running time | 118 min. |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean |
| Budget | $3,000,000 US |
| IMDb profile | |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 지구를 지켜라! |
| Revised Romanization | Jigureul jikyeora! |
Save the Green Planet! (Korean title: 지구를 지켜라!, Jigureul Jikyeora!) is a South Korean film from the year 2003. It was the directorial debut of Jang Jun-hwan, who also wrote the film. The movie mixes elements of multiple genres, including comedy, sci-fi, horror and thriller. The basic story starts when the main character Lee Byeong-gu kidnaps another man, who he is convinced is an alien.
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[edit] Plot
The film begins with Byeong-gu, a man who believes that aliens are about to attack Earth and that he is the only one who can prevent them. With his childlike circus performer girlfriend, he kidnaps a powerful executive who he believes is a top ranking extraterrestrial who can contact the prince of these aliens when the upcoming eclipse occurs. After imprisoning him in his workshop/basement he proceeds to torture the executive, and slowly Byeong-gu's true intentions are revealed. It seems that the executives company poisoned his mother in a pharmacy test, and though Byeong-gu does seem to believe that the executive is an alien, he's deluding himself to his obvious act of revenge. When a detective comes calling to investigate the disappearance, the executive tries to escape but is thwarted by the psychotic Byeong-gu. The detective at first finds nothing unusual but on his way out sees Byeong-gu's dog (appropriately named Earth) gnawing on the bones of his masters past victims. After contacting a partner in the police force he is killed by the psycho's bees, is hacked up, and fed to the dog. Byeong-gu then crucifies the executive and breaks his leg with his axe butt, to punish him for his attempted escape. In a desperate move, the executive convinces Byeong-gu that the bottle of benzine in his trunk is the antidote for his comatose mother. As Byeong-gu races to the hospital to deliver the antidote, the executive frees himself by pulling his hands through the nails. He then travels deeper into his captor’s lair, finding evidence of his grim research. Photos of mutilated corpses are littered with blood scrawled notebooks, while hands and brains of past ‘subjects’ reside in jars. Reading through the journals the executive discovers Byeong-gu's traumatic past: his father was a coal miner who lost one of his arms due to his dangerous work, and was killed by his wife when he attempted to attack her and his son. He was beaten in school and was victim to the sadistic whims of his cruel teachers. He showed signs of early violence, such as eventually stabbing a fellow school mate with a kitchen knife. His mother then was poisoned in the aforementioned incident, and at a protest, his former girlfriend was beaten to death. He slowly went mad from the violence that surrounded him. At the same moment, the dead detective's partner arrives and finds the frantic executive as Byeong-gu, after desperate rushing to the hospital, feeds the so-called antidote to his comatose mother, inadvertently killing her. Infuriated, he returns home with intention of killing the executive but finds the detective there. After a brief struggle and a bizarre turn of events, he captures both of them and plans on killing them both. The frantic executive then admits to being an alien and proceeds to spin an exotic tale which stretches back to the time of the dinosaurs, about how his race was trying to save humanity by experimenting on the genetic code of his mother. He also agrees to contact the alien prince at the executive's company factory. Byeong-gu leaves the detective all his notes saying that if he doesn't make it, he will have the responsibility of saving the planet. At the factory the executive triggers a computer controlled robotic arm to kill Byeong-gu's girlfriend, and after a long struggle, he beats his captor near to death. When the police arrive, they shoot Byeong-gu, and as he bleeds to death he wonders aloud, "Now who will save the earth?"
In a strange ending, open to much interpretation, the aliens do arrive and take the executive, who turns out to be an actual alien, aboard their ship. After failing his mission, he deems Earth a failed experiment and blasts it from creation. As the credits roll, they show a video consisting of the entire journey of Byeong-gu's life.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Shin Ha-kyun | Lee Byeong-gu |
| Baek Yun-shik | Kang Man-shik |
| Hwang Jeong-min | Su-ni |
| Lee Jae-yong | Inspector Choo |
| Lee Ju-hyeon | Inspector Kim |
| Gi Ju-bong | Squad Leader Lee |
[edit] Social Commentary
While Save the Green Planet! presents itself as a comedy/horror film about alien abductions, there is an underlying commentary of working conditions in Korea. As the movie progresses, we learn that Byeong-gu had a girlfriend previous to Su-ni who was murdered by Corporate Gangsters during a Worker's Strike. We also learn that Byeong-gu's mother's illness is related to the company managed by Man-shik. The scene presents the activities of corrupt Corporate heads and their firm grip on labor unions.
[edit] Awards
Was nominated for eight awards and won seven of them:[1]
- Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film
- Golden Raven Award
- Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
- Best Actress and ADF Cinematography Award
- Grand Bell Awards, South Korea
- Grand Bell Award
- Moscow International Film Festival
- Nominated: Golden Saint George
- Won: Silver Saint George
- Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival
- Best of Puchon
- Rotterdam International Film Festival
- KNF Award Special Mention
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- During Man-shik's story of the creation of man, there are many references to 2001: A Space Odyssey including the black obelisk and a man in an ape suit smashing bones with a club.
- When Kang Man-shik explains about war that ended with thousands of atomic bombs, a map is shown. The writing on the map is in Hebrew. The names of the locations are: "Israel", "Angel", "Lamb", "Avram" (short for "Abraham"), "To close in rotation". Other words are plain Gibberish.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Awards for Jigureul jikyeora! (English). IMDB. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
[edit] External links
- Save the Green Planet! at the Internet Movie Database
- Shannon, Jeff. War of the worlds ... inside his head? (Movie Review) (English). The Seattle Times. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
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