INSIDE MEN/ NAE-BU-JA-DEUL

Korea, 2016, 130 minutes, Colour.
Byung-hun Lee, Seung-woo Cho.
Directed by Min-ho Woo.

Inside Men is very interesting in the themes but for those outside Korea, rather difficult to follow.

It is a film about political corruption – a bit prophetic in so far as in 2017 the president of Korea was found guilty of corruption and activities exposed.

The film opens with a speech condemning candidates for elections by a man who raises his artificial hand to the crowd. The film then goes back two years, showing that this man was working for Korean gangsters and politicians, was betrayed and had his hand sawn off. Full of resentment, he survived the attack on him and began scheming against his enemies, even while he is in prison.

The candidates for election are older, very comfortably off, presumptuous in their authority and power. Also in the mix is a significant journalist who works for candidates and participates in their wealthy way of life – including sex parties which are filmed and later distributed on social media.

Also in the mix is an earnest young man, a prosecutor. In contact with the gangster in prison, they plan to bring down the candidates, the young prosecutor infiltrating the power groups and finally exposing them.

There have been many Korean films about political corruption, raising the consciousness of the Korean audience about abuse of power.