Harbin is currently playing in select U.S. theaters from Well Go USA.
Woo Min-ho is someone I’ve been slow to keep up with since I first caught wind of his 2015 political thriller, Inside Man. The good news is that some of his films aren’t intangible, so I can definitely catch them when I get time. As of late, that includes Harbin, Woo’s newest period assassin drama which chronicles the efforts of Korea’s rebellion against Japanese colonialism, led in part by Ahn Jung-geun, a lieutenant beleagured by a crisis of conscience following a fatal blunder at the cost of fighters, putting him under heavy scrutiny among ranks in the resistance.
Intent on ameliorating his actions, it is then that Ahn makes the stern commitment to eliminate Japan’s first prime minister, Hirobumi Ito, as the empire looks to annex Korea. The effort entails evading Japanese soldiers while trekking between snowy rural cities and desert frontiers as Ahn and the resistance coordinate efforts to procure enough weapons to dismantle Ito’s train carriage should a mere pistol not be enough. Beneath the mission’s terrain, however, lies an uneasiness in the ranks with Ahn’s competency questioned, and a brewing possibility and likelihood legitimizing one of the resistance’s biggest fears, forcing Ahn to act fast with a tenacious Japanese major in hot pursuit.
Leading man Hyun Bin is a welcome screen presence in the role of Ahn, who can be seen firstly trudging the icy surface of the Tumen river moments before the story kicks off and sets things in motion. The film soon flashes back to an explosive battle by the resistance to seize a Japanese camp leading to a face-to-face between Ahn, and Japanese Major Mori, played by Park Hoon. What happens here is just the catalyst for later events as Mori becomes consumed by his afflictions and addiction to tradition as a soldier and a Japanese nationalist, bent on tracking the resistance’s movements and capturing Ahn himself.
The cast is completed with a number of characters who each share some history with Ahn, including Madam Gong, played by Jeon Yeo-bin. Gong comes a little later in the first half as part of the plot development that sees Ahn and his group head to a desert fortress to meet with former soldier-turned-bandit, Kim Seong-baek, played by Son In-Yong. Lee Dong-wook lends a supporting performance as Lee Chang-sup, a ranking member of the resistance who holds no leniency for the enemy. It’s not long before the audience learns what that means well into the first half of the film, and with a character who bares plenty of salt compared to translator and fellow resistance fighter, Kim Sang-hyun, played by Jo Woo-Jin.
Harbin takes a few liberties to complete its story, compared to some actual historical points adherent to the film’s veracity. The storied focus becomes clearer in its execution, watching as Ahn bears the brunt of criticism by some of his comrades, most notably Lee Chang-sup whose paranoia – not for nothing, as we learn much later in the film – is not entirely without merit; Messaging on unity within a resistance bursting at the seams and hingeing on what feels like a whittling, last ditch effort to throw a monkey wrench in the empire’s plans, embodies much of the narrative throughout the script, penned by Woo and by Kim Kyeong-Chan. Jo contributes a great deal to the story in the role of Kim as the film intensifies well into the second half where Ahn finds himself amid a stark and very personal discovery.
Celebrated thesp Lily Franky delivers his usual signature gravitas to the screen in the role of the late Ito, elevating its prominent cast with Bin carrying the torch for Woo’s crackling, patriotic historical epic. Chronicling the Korean resistance in its plight, and arousing sympathy and nuance in several moments leading to the film’s recapitulation, Harbin delivers a feasible, resonant drama packaged with a mix of dark and intimate cinematography, and beautifully shot visuals and locales to present a captivating tale set in a pressure cooker world of all-or-nothing spy and assassin fare.
