An Eastern Western: a review of Song of the Bandits

Song of the Bandits

Hangul 도적: 칼의 소리

Hanja 盜賊: 칼의 소리

Literal meaning Thief: Sound of the Sword

Revised Romanization Dojeok: Kar-ui sori

McCune–Reischauer Tojŏk: k’arŭi sori

Created by Netflix

Developed by Studio Dragon (production planning)

Written by Han Jung-hoon

Directed by Hwang Jun-hyeok, Park Hyun-suk

Starring

Kim Nam-gil

Seohyun

Yoo Jae-myung

Lee Hyun-wook

Lee Ho-jung

Music by Kim Jang-woo

Opening theme “Bandit” by Taeil

Production

Executive producers Kim Ryoon-hee (C.P.), Kim Na-kyung, Cho Youn-hee

Producers Kim Jey-hyun, Lee Ki-hyuk, Huh Gun, Choi Ho-sung

Production companies Studio Dragon, Urban Works Media, Baram Pictures[2]

I could say that Song of the Bandits is the best western I’ve seen since 2017’s brilliant Godless, and for a one-line review it would be entirely accurate.

But Song of the Bandits isn’t a western. It doesn’t have any native Americans. Probably the nearest one was thousands of miles away. It doesn’t have any cowboys, for the simple reason that it doesn’t have any cows. Not only does it take place in the wrong century, but it takes place on the wrong continent.

However, it is basically a western. It has many of the tropes of a western, from the swinging shuttered saloon doors to a kick-ass soundtrack, lots of gun play, and lots of open, fairly desolate land with clapboard towns. It’s got bandits with arrows, horse chases, stagecoaches, and swords, although they tend to be more serious both as weapons and of effectiveness than the ceremonial toadstickers that cavalry captains had. Oh, and the damsels in distress tend to be better at handing out distress than you might see in an old John Ford flick.

Song of the Bandits takes place in Korea in the late 1910s. It is occupied by the Imperial Japanese, except for the northern part which is part of Manchurian China (Gando). The main characters are Koreans seeking to sabotage and overthrow the Japanese tyranny, groups of bandits and highwaymen, and the occupying Japanese, which in this particular region includes the efficiently cruel 37^th Regiment. Japan had annexed Korea (Joseon) in 1910, renaming the land Chōsen and working to eliminate Korean names and the Korean language. While Japan brought some modernization to the cities, the tax burden lay heavily in rural areas, which saw no such improvements. Needless to say, the Japanese occupiers were widely hated. By 1919, a formal resistance called the March 1^st Movement had sprung up, and Japan was beset by insurrectionists. (A Korean production, I very much doubt Netflix is showing this in Japan).

Anyone familiar with the history of the region knows that things got much worse for the Korean people before Japan was finally defeated by the Allies in 1945, starting with the events depicted here. The region this story takes place in what is now the area where China and North Korea abut, known as Gando, and the series is a prelude to the Gando Massacre, which occurred in 1920 in which Japanese slaughtered 5,000 residents and raped and mutilated countless others.

Unlike your typical western, most of the “good guys” in this were probably doomed. As was their movement, although it continued to beleaguer Japan throughout the war.

The plot is dense and multilayered through the 9 episodes, but I’ll copy Wikipedia’s description of the main characters to give you some idea of who is who:

Kim Nam-gil as Lee Yoon: A former Japanese soldier who left for Gando, leaving everything behind and became a bandit to protect the land and people.

Seohyun as Nam Hee-shin: An independence activist working as the head of the Railway Bureau of the Japanese Government-General of Korea. She has hidden her true allegiance.

Yoo Jae-myung as Choi Chung-soo: A landowner of a Korean village located in Gando who is an independence activist.

Lee Hyun-wook as Lee Gwang-il: A major of the 37th Infantry Regiment of the 19th Division of the Imperial Japanese Empire who gets entangled with Yoon in a terrible relationship.

Lee Ho-jung as Eon Nyeon: A contract killer who goes to Gando after being commissioned to murder Yoon.

As is usually the case with Korean productions, the direction and acting is first rate, and the English subtitles seem to accurately convey the plotline. It’s a great show with a moving and gripping plot.

Now on Netflix. (Your mileage may vary in Tokyo).