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Gonggongui jeog 2 (Another Public Enemy)



cast :

Chul-jung Kang, Jun-ho Jeong

crew :

Directed by: Woo-Suk Kang
Written by: Woo-Suk Kang
Produced by: Woo-Suk Kang
DOP: Kim Seong-bok
Editor: Go Im-pyo
Music Score by: Jae-kwon Han

release date :

2005

The concept of society is constantly evolving with time, or more precisely, with the lessons learnt by man as a result of time. By default, our world contains the most civil society because it is the most recent incarnation. Then why does one still pine for the violence, the heroics, the pornography of the screen, book and .mp3? Every person entertains that angel and demon which perch on either shoulder, and each ear will listen. The head in between decides which to obey, but it always knows the one ignored still sits there, whispering about the world. Maybe therefore there is such a social craving to glorify the athletes and the heroic, and why the equally opposite attraction to crime and its celebrities simultaneously exists. And maybe all therefore the most enjoyable of action films must contain the most spectacularly psychotic villains to foil the most incorruptible and heroic of men. Bruce Willis’ John McClane up against Alan Rickman’s money hungry terrorist; Harrison Ford’s president standing up to Gary Oldman’s Air Force One-jacker; Christian Bale’s vigilante Batman in his eternal battle against Heath Ledger’s Joker – all at the top end of a genre normally regarded as boyish and dumb. There are, of course, exceptions; those films which have their protagonist battle against an unknown conspirator or group of faceless foes may satisfy realism, but though these films are good they are not nearly as fun as watching two absurdly polar characters battling for 90minutes. A great action film relies on escapism, that escapism which lets the angel on my left shoulder and the demon on my right climb up onto the screen and fight for one’s morals.


There is no shame admitting a love for action films and other things similarly trashy. Not much can compare to the delight caused by the constant one-up-manship between hero and foe, and this is what ‘Another Public Enemy’ (2005) executes so well. The genuine hate between the two; the intellectual battle which ensues; the pushing of each other to the very limits of filmic stereotype ultimately to decide that evil will fall, and justice shall prevail. The thought of the victorious villain is unthinkable in its genre and ‘Another Public Enemy’ makes the prospect of his winning even less desirable. Who would want to live in that civil society where the most despicable can jump through loopholes and laugh at us as they land? Our society is one where if the justice system fails there are those men which can go above it and save us all from humiliation. Well, at least in the world of film there is.


‘Another Public Enemy’ follows the aforementioned hero and villain roles as manifest in Prosecutor Kang (Kyung-gu Sol) and Criminal Han (Jun-ho Jeong), from their first encounters in school to the ultimate moment where one will succeed over the over. Kang is initially presented as a likeable rogue, skipping from person to person either showing them up (pulling faces behind his superior’s back) or taking advantage of them (tricking his colleague into paying for dinner). Kang is most definitely an enjoyable character to watch on screen, yet to know him in real life would grate even the friendliest people. The film succeeds in making him affable for the audience’s relation, but Kang is one of those social extremes that can work in fiction and become a hero but would fail in reality. In contrast, one of Sang-Woo Han’s first appearances is his impulsive killing of an elderly road sweeper. Immediately Kang’s foil is produced; a reckless, obsessive man perching on my other shoulder.


Kang is portrayed as a successful and committed prosecutor, often crossing the job boundaries into orchestrating police raids, and setting up his own cases. The pleasure he receives from catching the criminals he so deeply hates is shown in the first of these raids when he manages to tie up three cases with one swoop. Of course, this is not done by the book and infuriates his superiors; but this is what our loveable heroes do, they go where we cannot. In a meal with the chief prosecutor after this feat, Kang spies his former school mate, Han, on a television screen promoting his new golf academy in America. From this moment on, Kang builds up a case around Han based on a gut feeling. That these suspicions turn out to be true does little to validate Kang investigating anyone he supposes. Han’s viciousness does little to hide the fact the entire case is based upon Kang’s personal vendetta against ‘the boy who got away with everything at school’. Although Kang bases his success and demeanour on his instinct, it is his complete devotion to justice which prevents him from being the criminal he so strongly despises. Without that little angel of the superego constantly reminding Kang of his own ethics, the instinct and impulsion he prides himself on so much would push him in opposition to justice. And this is what ‘Another Public Enemy’ provides in Han.


Han is immediately established as a powerful troublemaker; rallying his classroom battalion to fight rival schools; the distrust from his dead father’s close friend; the unshakable air of arrogance. The devil is not so much whispering in Han’s ear, but shouting with such force and venom that the angel on his left can do nothing but recoil in horror. This is perfectly presented in the aforementioned sequence where Han murders an elderly gentleman. Han, smugly sitting in his parked sports car, tosses a cigarette out of the window. An elderly gentleman, one who is as pleasant and polite as only a man of twilight age can be, walks over and tells Han that he reminds him of his son, and that he always taught his son not to litter. There is nothing condescending in it. Nothing antagonistic. Just quaint and well mannered. But a rage builds up in Han; one can see it in his narrowing eyes and curling lip. Maybe this man reminds him of his father; but what does that matter if his father is never mentioned beyond his death? A man without motive will always horrify more profoundly than one with cause. Han drives slowly off only to turn and speed towards the gentleman. The car’s impact with the man sends him up beyond the bonnet and over the rest of the car. There was no thought process in Han’s mind, only the carnal screams from the depths of the brain, that animal urging which acts on impulse and hate and jealously and pride. Han has no superego angel; Han is only evil. Not once does Han redeem himself for the remainder of the film. He has no remorse, nor love and his one-dimensional character pursuit is only of wealth through greed.


It is odd then how Kang and Han are so remarkably similar. Both are intellectuals. Both are alone in their lives. But most importantly, when they are cornered, they lash out like wild dogs. After Kang’s best detective is killed by Han’s men and as the increasing lack of support from corrupt higher authorities (because they reside in Han’s pocket) amounts, Kang realises he cannot defeat Han within the confines of a civil society. He must go above the law and take it into his own hands. The further away he strays from the law, the more like Han he becomes in his behaviour. Progressively more desperate and impulsively violent, culminating in fighting Han outside his mansion during an attempted flee to America. Kang nearly goes as far to kill him, and his peers condone it. Whilst Kang holds a gun to Han’s head the others who work at the prosecution office turn a blind eye. Their primal conduct is not only in their action, but in their words. Allusion to animals, in particular dogs, is ripe throughout the film. Kang is often nick named Mad Dog and the justice department is sometimes likened to a jungle. Kang’s angel may be lecturing him throughout, but as the film progresses, Kang lends more and more of his ear to the devil on the opposing shoulder, resorting to aggression.


Han is quite obviously isolated; killing his father, brother, and anyone else who obstructs his desires; completely selfish. Kang, however, is deceptively alone. Although being surrounded by people and interacting with ease, he is still an unmarried man with no one close to him to speak of. Kang has been raised with an overabundance of superego; creating a complete compulsion to do what is right. His constant urge to separate right from wrong has led to a personality which is always telling itself it is not doing enough right. This has created a workaholic in Kang, unable to form any real relationships because he will never believe he is good enough. When Kang sits in his car on the way to work a self-improvement tape can be heard coming from his radio. It tells him to “wear that smile”. This is a mask, a mask to hide his real broken self from the world. Just like his Prosecutor title – he is no Prosecutor; he is a detective; a vigilante.


So presented are the completely hate-filled Han and his rival Kang, our devil and our angel perched on either side of the film to fight for our morality. We are the ones who decide which to listen to, but they both still exist in us. Action films are therefore modern-day morality tales. Crime is wrong and justice will prevail. But how to convey this? The most enjoyable way is the clearly polar protagonist and antagonist, fighting till the end and then on to infinity.


Watch


Country: South Korea
Budget: £
Length: 148mins


Pub/2008

More like this:
'Hayanbang (Unborn But Forgotten)' 2002, directed by Chang-jae Lim
'Gojo reisenki (Gojoe)' 2000, directed by Sogo Ishii